Screensaver Problems
by PokeDigiManiac
Summary: The author has a slight problem with his computer and gets sucked into the Pokemon world, and meets the gang... Quite a bit of AAMRN in this, and a lot of humor and other general stuff! This is my first uploaded story on FFN, and it took 6 months to creat
1. Chapter 1

Screensaver Problems Part 1

_Welcome, one and all! This is a fic by yours truly, PokeDigiManiac The Magnificent! *fireworks go off* Thank you, thank you very much. I have some crap I have to go through before I start._

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_This fic is dedicated to Ash and Misty. Good luck, you two. Have a great life._

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_I also do not own Pokemon or any other copyrighted items in this fic. Someday I'll own Nintendo and force them to stop showing reruns! MWAHAHAHA! But until then, I have no wish to get sued, so I'll write a stupid disclaimer._

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_I use "emoticons" in this story, so I'll translate the harder ones for you now._

_^_^means happy.^_^*is the famous anime sweatdrop.-_^is an eyebrow raised as in "Interesting..." or "That's weird..."~_~xis one of my own design, the anime "popping a vein." O_O is "surprised/scared."_

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_All actions are in *asterisks.* All thoughts are in {vases.} Mew's thoughtspeech is in these. This story will be mostly in first-person mode. Also, in the interludes between chapters, I use script mode, with abbreviations for some names: "PDM:" stands for "PokeDigiManiac:" and "M:" stands for "Mew:"_

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Mew is my muse-pokemon. A muse is someone or someTHING 

Mew: I heard that!

that an author uses for ideas or comic relief when he writes. I just decided to choose a Mew, (An extremely rare psychic pokemon that has DNA from all species. It is believed to be extinct. Yeah, right.) because I'm crazy about them, (see my email address!) but out of all the Mews, I had to capture one with a smart mouth! 

Mew: What do you mean, a mouth? I don't talk, I communicate through my psychic powers!

See what I mean?

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_This story really can be classified as an AAMRN, but while it has a good amount of that, it has lots of other things as well, so you decide... (Definition for AAMRN: Ash And Misty Romance Novel)_

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_One Last Thing!!!!_

_Main Character Ages (In Order of Appearance) Are As Follows:_

_Chris: 13 (for real!)_

_Ash: 13_

_Misty: 13_

_Brock: 14_

_Jessie: 19_

_James: 19_

_Meowth: who cares?_

_Duplica: 13_

_Suzie: 14_

_Gary: 14 (if he's only 11 in the TV show, then how the hell did he get his driver's license for that car? That's why I got rid of it here!)_

_Cassidy: 20_

_Butch: 21_

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_Okay, on to the story! *sighs and puts on writer's beret*_

"Screensaver Problems"

by PokeDigiManiac

One fine day, I was snoozing as usual in History. When my teacher asked me a question, I jumped up and shouted: "The square root of 4 is 2!"

"Chris, math is your next period," sighed the teacher.

"Well, do I at least get extra credit for knowing that one?" I asked.

His face was hint enough that I should just sit back down and wait for the inevitable Apocalypse of the vice-principal. But, amazingly enough, he just sighed and went back to the discussion. I felt like cheering. I decided that I should look for a new Pokemon screensaver to commemorate the occasion. Now, that is a big thing for me. I hardly ever change my screensaver because I get too attached to them, but that's another story.

When the final bell rang, I ran for home, completely ignoring the outraged cries of the science teacher who I had just run over in my haste to escape. Once I reached home with a minimum of assaults and unwilling fights, I booted up my laptop. This laptop was my most precious possession in the whole world. It was the latest one with the best 3-D cards and all the new software and advanced memory. Once it was booted up and ready, I connected to the Internet and started my foray into the world of Pokejunk.

Before I go any further, I think I should tell a little more about myself. I'm Chris, an 8th grader. I'm also a registered and certified Pokemaniac. Everything about Pokemon conceivable is either on my shelves or tacked to the walls of my room. Even my computer had a stenciled Alakazam on the cover. I especially like psychic Pokemon, and most of all, the Abra-Alakazam evolutions. I also am a technofreak. You name it about computers, and I know it.

I'm also very philosophical. Even about the Pokemon anime, which I watch every weekend. Like my views on the anime sweatdrop- I think it's funny how if the anime sweatdrop were real, I'd use it a lot. My life is like that. Now back to the Internet...

I had spent an hour searching and had still not found any screensavers good enough until I got to the very last one on my Google.com searchlist. "New Screensaver!" it said. "Gives You the Ultimate Pokemon Experience!" My curiosity piqued, I decided to check it out. 

The webpage had a strange address that was a long string of numbers and random letters. I bookmarked it so if the screensaver crashed my computer, I could find the site again and flame them. I scrolled down to look at the descriptions. They said what the summary had said and more: "Feels Just Like You're In the Anime World of Pokemon! (Kanto Only.)" "You Might Even Run Into Ash and His Friends!" "Gives You the Full Experience!" "Uses New Technology to Make It As Lifelike as Possible!"

"Sure sounds good..." I muttered. I scrolled down some more until I came to two hyperlinks. Above them, it had a weird poem:

A few inches below,

There are two choices,

Yes or no.

One will change your life,

The other will leave you wondering what could have been,

But both will cause much strife.

Choose wisely, young child,

Pokemaniac you may be,

But compared to the World of Pokemon, your experiences are mild.

Under all that, the two hyperlinks said:

"Go on to your destiny" and

"Leave this place forever"

I was a little weirded out by that poem, because after all, what could it mean by changing your life? But I've never been a coward, so I clicked on "Go on to your destiny." It brought up a picture of a Pokeball and a note under it:

"This Pokeball contains all your hopes, dreams, sorrows, and terrors. Do you wish to open it?"

"Okay, this is getting really weird!" I said to myself as I clicked on the Pokeball. It initiated a download that said it was 0.5 of a byte, and yet it took nearly five minutes to download. "How could something that tiny be even possible, let alone take five minutes?" I wondered out loud.

"DOWNLOAD COMPLETE. DO YOU WISH TO CONFIGURE THE SCREEN SAVER NOW?" popped up with a Yes/No choice. I had time to kill, so I picked Yes.

That brought up a large screen with a giant amount of choices to make. Some were like: "What is your favorite type of Pokemon?" "Choose a starting Pokemon from this list." "What is your favorite color?" and on and on. 

Essentially, I told the thing that I loved Psychic pokemon, I wanted to start with Abra, my name was Chris, I was 13 years old, I had liked Pokemon since Red/Blue came out, my favorite color was red, and on and on, countless crazy questions. And the weird thing was, there was absolutely no temptation to lie. Not that I normally do, but it was like all thoughts about lying had been erased from my head.

I wanted to see the screensaver, so I set it to go on after one minute, and waited expectantly.

In a minute, the computer went absolutely black. Then, suddenly, streaks of color began appearing from the sides of the screen and converging in the center, forming an ever-increasing ball of light. {This is cool, but it's not a Pokemon screensaver.} I thought, about to move the mouse and cut it off. But then something scary happened.

When I tried to move the mouse, it was locked securely in place. When I tried clicking the keys, they were stiff and immovable. The same went for the power switch and the plug. It was like the computer had been frozen in a serious way. While I cursed the thing and tried to fix it, the ball of light had become larger. Suddenly, I felt a compelling desire to watch it for a few seconds, at least to see what kind of crappy screensaver I had been loaded down with.

The ball was now as large as the screen, and was starting to take on some color as the streaks of light faded. Its top half started to turn red, and its bottom half white. I didn't realize what it was until the button appeared on the front. "It's a pokeball!" I thought. But apparently the screensaver wasn't done. The pokeball began to shake and quiver, as if there was something inside struggling to get out. I leaned forward, eager to find out what was inside it.

Suddenly, in a blur of motion, the ball snapped open and a bright white light started to shine out from it onto me. I felt my bottom leaving the chair as the ball became larger and larger until it filled my vision. Then everything became black. Although I wasn't around to see it, my computer displayed the words

ILLEGAL ACTION DETECTED before it shut itself down and disappeared, too.

When my sister walked into my room a few minutes later to annoy me, all she saw was an empty room with no teenager or computer...

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_PDM: So, do you like it so far? I decided after I wrote near to 48 pages of this stuff that I should divide it up into parts, so there's more!_

_M: Heaven help us._

_PDM: Please give me as much feedback as possible! I really want to hear from you guys!_

_Now... READ ON!_


	2. Chapter 2

Screensaver Problems Part 2

_PDM: So you decided to keep reading, huh? Not a bad decision, in my opinion._

_*Meowth jumps in*_

_Meowth:Now, where we left off, da kid was just sucked thru de computer to who knows where..._

M: Out, out, out! I do all the nonhuman narrating and pre-story crap here! *uses Mega Punch and blasts Meowth through a wall* Now that that's over with, where we left off, the author... What? You say Meowth already said that? Hmph! Fine! Just read!

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Many hours (or was it days?) later, I woke up to find myself in a strange forest. "What the hell?" was my typical reaction. "Where am I? And what the hell did that bleeping screensaver do to me?" I could not tell where I was, and it seemed too much for a prank, and who would do that to me anyways? So I decided to stand still for a second and think. But when I did, I got another shock.

I was dressed in completely different clothes! I am not the coolest person in the school, (actually, people think I'm a geek!) and I dressed accordingly. But my clothes were extremely nice- I was wearing a red 

T-shirt, but instead of a weird surfing logo over my heart, there was a nice picture of a Masterball. On the back, it was just red. I was also wearing blue jeans with PKMN stenciled on the right leg, which were saggy enough to be nice but not so much that my boxers were peeking. (I think that's the dumbest fashion trend ever!) My nice artist's beret was still there, but it had a large P on the front. All in all, I thought I looked pretty cool, but that still didn't explain where I was. Then I looked again and was a little more surprised.

I had on a nice backpack with my laptop inside it and my camera (Photography is a hobby of mine) was hanging from my shoulder by its strap. I assumed that the camera supplies were in the pack, too. But what surprised me the most was what was buckled around my waist.

It was a belt that had a Pokeball and a very advanced (like the Johto ones) Pokedex clipped onto it. Now that helped me figure out what had happened to me.

"Either I'm crazy, which is possible, or I'm in the World of Pokemon. Yesssss!!" That had always been my dream ever since I had begun to watch the Pokemon TV show. But how had I gotten here? "Must have been that crazy screensaver." I decided to see if I could boot up my computer and get back to that site to find out more about it. 

But when I tried to boot it up, nothing happened. Just then, I noticed that the batteries were dead. And besides, there were no phone lines in a forest that I knew of...^_^*"Hey! An actual sweatdrop! That's cool!" I exclaimed. It looked like I was stuck here for now.

I had another brainwave. I was wondering if the screensaver questions had not really been that pointless after all, so I decided to check what kind of Pokemon was in the Pokeball. I pushed the button to enlarge it (I had read tons of info on how to operate them on the Net.) and tossed it out. When it hit the ground, it opened and a ray of red light spilled out of it and collected itself into an Abra! "Awesome! An Abra! But I wonder what moves it has? Oh, God, I hope it doesn't only have Teleport!" I decided to check out it with the Pokedex. I pulled it out and turned it on.

"Pokedex activated. Greetings. I am Dexter, a Pokemon analyzer and encyclopedia. I am registered to Chris Weil, 13 years of age, who started out from Viridian on January 10, 2001. He has taken the license test and scored a 98. What function would you prefer?"

"Boy, that thing's longwinded." I thought as I pressed the Analyze button and pointed it at Abra, who had gone to sleep.

"Pokemon Analyze Activated. Abra, Level 10. Knows Teleport, Confusion, and Kinesis."

"That helped. Okay, Abra! Wake up!"

Abra blinked sleepily, but awoke fully when he saw me. He then teleported himself to in front of me.

"Hello, Abra! My name's Chris, and I guess I'm your master. Do you have a nickname?"

"Abra ab abra ra"

"Oh, I guess not. Waitaminute! How'd I understand you?"

The Pokedex piped up from where I had clipped it back onto my belt. "Recent research has found that a special bond occurs between a trainer and his Pokemon. This takes varying amounts of time depending on the pokemon and the trainer, but is almost instantaneous with trainers' starting Pokemon. Once this bond is made, complete understanding of that Pokemon's language is attained." After this long speech, the Pokedex shut down again.

"I get it..."

"Ab-ra!"

"Yeah, I suppose we should head for a town. But I have no clue where anything is, and I have no map."

Abra teleported itself onto my backpack and began digging through whatever was in there until it came up with a rolled-up piece of paper. Handing it to me, it teleported back to its original position and waited expectantly.

"Hey, this is a Town Map! Cool! Thanks, Abra! But what else is in there?" I pulled off my backpack and started digging through it to see what was inside.

I found my camera stuff, my computer accessories, and a whole lot of other stuff. I found some weird money that I guessed must be the Pokemon currency, and when I put it in my wallet, I found that my extra money I had already had turned into Pokecash, too. All together, I had about $10,000. (Pokedex Info: This may seem like a lot, but remember that Potions and Pokeballs cost $200! God only knows how much food and hotels cost!) Also, there were 2 Potions, a Poison Heal, Paralyz Heal, and an Awakening. I stuck all this in the front part of the pack, figuring I'd need it soon. Then under all this stuff, I found two things that really made me happy.

There were 3 Pokeballs and a Pokeflute. (Pokedex Info: Pokeballs are what you capture Pokemon in, and a Pokeflute is a cool flute that you can play to wake up Pokemon besides its obvious use, to make music!) Back home, I was not very musical at all. To tell the truth, I sounded like a sick pig whenever touched an instrument of any kind or tried to sing. But when I lifted the Pokeflute to my lips and tried to play it, beautiful music came out! "I guess that crazy screensaver affected me in more ways than one!" Packing all this back into my bag, I took another look at the Town Map and hit the road for Viridan City, which seemed to be closest.

I began walking when I realized I had to do something about Abra. I turned around to see it following me by levitation. "Do you wanna go back in your Pokeball or stay with me for now?" I asked.

"Ab abra ra!"

"Okay, suit yourself! I guess not everybody likes those balls." I said to him and began walking with Abra by my side, ready for anything. I hoped I could get to Viridian before dark, because I didn't seem to have any camping stuff or food with me.

Time passes...

I had walked for about three hours and was feeling pretty tired as it began to get dark. But as I climbed another hill, an amazing sight met my eyes. There was Viridian City before me, all lit up. I called Abra and started running for the city, figuring I could ask someone for directions to the Pokecenter. (Pokedex Info: A Pokecenter is a place where Pokemon trainers can get their Pokemon healed and stay the night there, on occasion. Plus, it's free!)

But before long, I was utterly lost and about ready to collapse. Nobody had been of any help to me. But my prospects began to look up as I saw a slightly attractive blue-haired police officer come up to me on a motorcycle. 

"You look lost. Are you new in town?" she asked.

{Lady, you don't know the half of it!} I thought, but what I actually said was "Yes, actually. I'm looking for the Pokecenter, and I'm completely lost."

"You really are lost! The Pokecenter is on the other side of town."

I groaned, anticipating another long walk, but the police officer cut in on my thoughts with an offer.

"Would you like a ride? The police station is right over there, so it's on my way."

I eagerly accepted, and with all the thanks over with, I picked up Abra and held onto him as the cop started up her motorcycle.

"By the way, my name is Officer Jenny. (Pokedex Info: All towns have an Officer Jenny.) Hold on tight!" With that, the bike roared off towards the other side of town and the Pokecenter.

After about a ten-minute drive, we arrived. She let me off in front of the Pokecenter and headed for a building with a picture of a Growlithe on it. (Pokedex Info: Growlithe are like fire dogs that are commonly used by cops)I headed inside the Pokecenter to see what I could do.

Inside, I saw a Chansey (Pokedex Info: A pink egg-shaped Pokemon. They are so helpful and hardworking that they are generally nurses at Pokemon Centers.) hard at work cleaning up while a nurse sat at the receptionist's desk. 

"Hello! Is that your Abra?" she asked.

"Yes, it is," I replied.

"Do you need your Pokemon healed?"

"No. I just started out today, and I haven't had a battle yet. But the only problem is that I have nowhere to stay. Is there any room here for me?"

"Certainly. Our doors are always open for any Pokemon trainer. Chansey, will you get... What was your name?"

"Chris."

"Chansey, will you get Chris a sleeping bag and pillow?" The Chansey nodded and ran off. *to me* "I'm sorry, but you'll have to sleep on one of the couches as all of the beds are in use by Pokemon right now."

"No problem. Just a quick question, but would you be Nurse Joy?"

"Yes. You'll probably meet a lot of my relatives on your travels- there's one in every town and a few others besides."

"Okay, and thanks again. Now can I just ask two more things?"

"Yes?"

"First, do you have anyplace I can plug in my laptop's charger?"

"Right over there." She pointed to a plug on the wall. "What else?"

"Do you have a spare phone line I can hook up to?"

"Certainly- just take your laptop over to that desk. There's a phone jack and a plug you can use."

I thanked her and went over, plugged everything in, and hooked up to see what I could do. I was only slightly surprised that my AOL account had changed to POL (Pokemon Online!), but my bookmarks were still intact. I went to the last one on the list, which was the site I had gotten the new screensaver from. But when the page came up, the previous stuff was gone. Now there was only a banner that said, "This screensaver is being recalled due to several reports of malfunctions." Under it, a status bar (the one that fills up as a job is being done like a download) began to move quickly. Before I could react, the job was done and a message flashed on my screen- "Your faulty screensaver has been recalled. Thank you." Then the browser shut down. "What the-"

I tried to start up the browser again, but when I did, the bookmark was gone, and there was no way I could have remembered that string of letters and numbers. Then when I checked the screensaver, it had changed to one of those spinning text messages- "Psychic Pokemon Rule!" I cursed quietly and shut off the computer, certain I would be stuck here forever. But then a tap on my shoulder startled me.

"Chansey chan!" the Chansey said, handing me a rolled-up sleeping bag and a small pillow. I thanked it, closed down my computer, and got myself set up for the night. I was a little worried about what to do with Abra, but it just settled itself on my chest and went to sleep. I yawned and started to relax. It had been a very interesting day, that was for sure. I figured that I shouldn't think of this as a problem, but as an adventure. Who knew what tomorrow would bring? I rolled over and went to sleep.

The next morning I was awakened by a Farfetch'd (Pokedex Info: A rooster-like Pokemon.) crowing. I sat up, thinking I was still back in my room. So as you may imagine, it was quite a shock to realize I was in a strange Pokecenter with an Abra sleeping on my stomach. I would have jumped up, but I didn't want to hurt Abra. So as I sat on the couch in my sleeping bag, memories of yesterday rushed back to me. "Wow..." I muttered to myself. But then my stomach grumbled. I was roaringly hungry. I gently shook Abra to wake him up, which he did very slowly. Once he was fully awake, I asked him "Abra, I'm going to pack up and go see if there's any food here. Do you want any?"

"Abra abra ra!" he said, violently nodding his head.

"Okay, then help me pack up!" Abra then started lifting objects with his psychic powers and moving them into my backpack. "Boy, it'll really be useful to have you around!" I told him, smiling.

"Abra!" he agreed.

After we had everything packed, and I had the sleeping bag and pillow rolled up and under my arm, we went to find Nurse Joy. We finally found her and Chansey in a kitchen that had the best smells coming from it.

"Mmmmm...."

"Aaaabraaaaa..."

We both were drooling until Nurse Joy looked up from whatever she was cooking and noticed us. "Good morning, Chris! Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, Nurse Joy."

"You both look hungry. Do you want some breakfast?"

"Do we ever!" I shouted, and Abra agreed. In just a few seconds, I was digging into a stack of pancakes and Abra was enjoying a bowl of... ketchup! It had surprised me that he liked ketchup, but I guess every Pokemon is different. We had demolished our plates in less than ten minutes and were stuffed for the first time ever. Then I tried to give Nurse Joy back the sleeping bag.

"Here, Nurse Joy. You can have this back." I said, holding out the bag to her.

"No, Chris. You keep that. You'll need it when you start camping out. Besides, I have a million in the back."

"Wow, thanks, Nurse Joy! I'll be starting out soon, but can I ask you where to find a few more things around here?"

"I'll do better than that. I'll give you a more specialized Town Map. The other one will tell you how to get between towns, but this one will show a street map of all the towns. That should help you on your journey."

"I don't know what to say except for Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome. Anytime. Check in at Pokecenters around the country and give me a call to tell me how you're doing."

"Sure!" I called back as I walked out the door and set off for the nearest Pokemart and food shop.

At the Pokemart, I bought one of each of the Poison Heals, Paralyz Heals, Burn Heals, and Ice Heals. I also sold my Awakening, because the Pokeflute did the same thing. The cool thing was that when the shopkeeper saw the Pokeflute, he asked me to play some music for him. I was a little nervous, thinking he'd throw me out if I sounded like I normally did, but when I played, it was like my fingers had a mind of their own. Believe it or not, I played the first Pokemon theme song all the way through. When I finished, the storeowner and all his other customers applauded me. The storeowner gave me a 10% discount and a tip- if I played the Pokeflute for other Pokemart owners around the world, they'd give me a discount, too. The total for all my purchases came to about $1500. Emboldened by this knowledge, I walked into a grocery shop next door and bought some outdoor cooking supplies and food. With all this loaded up into my backpack, which was still very light, I decided to head into the forest for a little training and experience, for both Abra and me.

When we started walking, a Pokemon popped out of the grass. I couldn't remember what it was, so I scanned it with my Pokedex. 

"Drowzee- a Psychic-type Hypnosis Pokemon at Level 6. Knows Hypnosis, Tackle, and Confusion."

"A Drowzee? Let's capture it, Abra!"

"Abra ab!"

"Abra, use Confusion!" Abra used Confusion on the unaware Drowzee, damaging it about 1/4 of its health. The Drowzee then started to use Hypnosis on Abra. 

"Abra, give it one in the back with a Teleport!" Abra Teleported to behind the Drowzee and used Confusion on it, causing a critical hit and all but knocking it out. "Great job, Abra!" I then pulled out a Pokeball from my pack, hit the button, and tossed it at the downed Drowzee. When it hit the Drowzee, the ball opened and sucked the Drowzee in with a flash of red light. Then the button on the front turned red as the pokeball began to shiver. But after a few seconds, the light turned white, and the ball stopped shaking. I had caught my first Pokemon! It was entered in my pokedex, and I headed back to the Pokecenter as fast as possible with Abra following close behind.

When I ran through the doors, Nurse Joy looked up and asked, "Back already?"

"I caught a Drowzee!" I cried, overjoyed.

"Congratulations! Do you want me to heal your Pokemon?" she asked.

"Sure, but can I watch? I've always been curious how it works." I asked.

"Certainly. Come on back." she said, walking through a door. Abra and I followed her. Soon we came to a machine that had 6 slots for pokeballs. "Will your Abra get into its pokeball? It'll only be for a few seconds."

"I think so. How about it, Abra?"

"Ab-ra."

"Okay, Abra, return!" I cried, pushing a small button on Abra's pokeball, shooting out a ray of red light towards Abra. When it hit him, he turned into light the same color as the ray. Then all the light was sucked back into the ball. Then I gave both balls to Nurse Joy, who inserted them into the machine. Then she punched in a code, and two tubes lowered over the pokeballs. Then rays of light begun to run down the tubes and seep into the pokeballs. "What is that doing?" I asked.

"It is giving them a specialized Potion, in a sense. Pokemon have incredible natural healing powers, and all Potions and this machine do is speed that up. In a few seconds, your Pokemon will be healed like they had had two weeks of rest."

"Cool! Thanks for the explanation!" When I was done speaking, the tubes withdrew, and the machine lifted both the Pokeballs up so that Nurse Joy could pick them up and give them to me. "Your Pokemon are fighting fit! We hope to see you again!"

"Huh?"

"Boy, I hate saying that, but that's what they hammer into us at nursing school. Anyway, have a good day, Chris!"

"I will, and thanks!" I called as I was heading out for the forest again.

Time passes...

That night, I sat down with a sigh at the place I had chosen for my campsite. I had trained both Abra and Drowzee well today, and they had both gone up a level. (Pokedex Info: Pokemon's strength are measured by levels. All Pokemon begin at Level 1, and Level 100 is the maximum that you can attain. But there have been some unconfirmed reports of Pokemon seen that have been over Level 100 and at Level 0.) That night, even though I could have stayed at the Pokecenter, I wanted to try camping out. I had my sleeping bag unrolled and my stuff all unpacked. I had not had much luck starting a fire until Abra helped me out with some small pyrokinesis, (Pokedex Info: lighting a fire with your mind) and soon I had a pleasant fire crackling. Drowzee was content to stay in its Pokeball, but Abra wanted to stay out as much as possible. I had heated up some vegetable soup for all of us with a side of ketchup for Abra. That night, I slept like a log, but my last thought before dozing off was whether I would ever find any human friends to travel with. True, Pokemon were nice, but they couldn't talk or joke with you. I was a little lonely...

My dreams that night were many and confusing. I remembered none of them the next morning, but one thing that had haunted me through the night was what the advertisement for that screensaver that had gotten me into this had said: "You Might Even Run Into Ash and His Friends!"

"Yeah, right." I said to myself as I packed up our stuff with Abra's help, of course. "What are the odds of finding one threesome in the whole world?" As I started walking with Abra hovering on my shoulder, I remembered that Abra and its evolutions were extremely intelligent. "Abra, you tell me. What are the odds of finding a group of three people in the whole world?"

"Abra......Ab ra abra!"

"About a million to one, huh? Guess that screensaver advertisement was just made up." Just then I literally stumbled on another camp. "Ooof!" I grunted as I picked myself up off the ground while Abra scolded me from his perch in the air.

"Are you all right?" an all too familiar voice said.

"Pika pi?" another familiar voice inquired.

"And that would be the one, Abra..." I muttered.

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_PDM: So there you are! Whose camp did Chris stumble into? What will happen next? And above all, WILL THIS STORY FINALLY EVER BECOME A ROMANCE?_

_Comments, ideas, requests, pictures, and Valentines welcome..._

_*looks again at what I just said* Shit, did I say that? I guess all the Valentine's stuff is getting to me! (It's February 13 now!)_

_M: Ooh la la! Smoochie Smoochie!_

_PDM: *whacks Mew with mallet* Guess he's got nothing but love and mallets on the brain! *grins*_

_Now... ADVENTURE ON, READERS! (I know I stole that from Disney Adventures, so don't flame me!)_


	3. Chapter 3

Screensaver Problems Part 3

­_PDM: *jaw drops* I don't believe it... You kept reading! Wow! Well, if you've read all this way, then I obviously don't need to recap..._

_If you don't remember the last parts, then go back and read, because I'm not saying it all over again anymore!_

_Damn... I can't resist... NOOOOOO!!!!!_

_Where we left off last time, Chris had just stumbled onto a camp and heard two very familiar voices. Who are they? (If you don't know, then you're a disgrace to the name of Pokemon!) What will happen next? Read to find out! Without further ado, the story! *manages to choke self so I can't say this crap anymore*_

_M: If you're choking yourself, can I write?_

_PDM: Hell, no! Move over!_

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"And that would be the one, Abra..." I muttered as I stood up to see Ash with Pikachu (Pokedex Info: A 1-foot-tall electric mouse Pokemon. This particular Pikachu surpasses the energy level of the average Pikachu.) on his shoulder and Misty standing next to him holding Togepi (A newly discovered egg-type baby Pokemon. Seems to know no attacks yet.) and looking worried while Brock stirred something in a pot.

"Abra abra ra ab." Abra floated to my shoulder, looking apologetic.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" Ash asked, dodging a mallet swung by Misty.

"Ash! That's no way to ask!"

"Excuse me, both of you, but I don't mind. My name is Chris."

"Are you a trainer?" Ash asked.

"What do you think?" I replied, pointing to my pokeballs on my belt with my Pokedex. I had to ask the next question, even though I already knew the answer. "I hope you don't mind my asking, but what are your names?"

"My name is Ash, and this is Pikachu. Over there by the fire is Brock, and this is-"

"I'll introduce myself, thanks! I'm Misty."

"Would that be Brock and Misty of the Pewter and Cerulean City gyms?" I asked, already knowing the answers.

"Actually, yes, we are." Brock spoke up from by the fire. "Would you like to join us for breakfast?"

"Sure! Sorry about falling in on you." I replied as we sat down to a meal of some sort of stew that tasted terrific while Pikachu and Abra fought over the ketchup bottle. Apparently, Pikachu liked ketchup, too.

"Would you mind telling us a little more about yourself, Chris?" Misty asked.

"Fine with me. I'm 13 years old, and I started out just two days ago with Abra here. We've already caught a Drowzee. I like psychic-type pokemon the best of all! I also like photography a lot. Plus, I'm pretty good with computers, and I even have my own laptop. I was just starting to explore for the day when I literally stumbled onto you guys. So what's your own story? What are you guys doing now?" I had decided not to tell anyone about how I really got here.

"Well, I just competed in the Pokemon League Championships..." Ash said.

"Tell him the rest of the story!" Misty said while giving Ash the evil eye.

"Well... I lost." Ash sighed. "Even with all the help that Pikachu here gave me, I tried my hardest and still lost. So now I'm traveling around trying to train some more."

"Don't be ashamed, Ash. Even getting into the Pokemon League Competition is quite an accomplishment. And why are you two with him?" I asked of Brock and Misty.

"I have two reasons. I want to become a Pokemon breeder, so I decided to travel with Ash after he defeated me and see the world to learn all about Pokemon. The second reason is that Ash can't cook." Brock explained.

"What about you, Misty?" I inquired.

"The only reason I'm following him around is because he wrecked my bike, and I'm not leaving until he pays me back!" Misty said. But I noticed that she looked just a tiny bit uncomfortable as she said this. I doubted Ash had noticed, but I was pretty sure that I saw Brock's eyelids flicker.

"You must have really gotten her mad to make her follow you for this long, Ash!" I laughed. "But anyway, I have a kind of weird question to ask. Do you think I could travel with you guys for a while? You see, I'm kind of new at this thing, and it'd be great if I had the advice of two gym leaders and a high-ranking trainer! Well, actually, that's not the whole truth. The truth is that I'm a little lonely, even with Abra. It'd be great to travel with some humans for once!"

"Well, Chris, it's okay with me!" Ash declared. "How about you, Pikachu?"

"Pika pi!" Pikachu called from over where he was rummaging through a bag.

"Okay, then. How about you guys?"

"Fine with me, Ash!" Brock said as he got back to stirring his stew.

"That's fine! It'll be nice to travel with a boy who doesn't chase every girl he sees or one who doesn't say the same "I will be the greatest Master!" speech every 15 minutes!" Misty said before turning to take Togepi out of her pack.

"Great! Thank you! I really appreciate it." I said, feeling the happiest I had been since I got transported here. "So what were you planning on doing today?" I asked.

"I want to go train a little more with Pikachu." Ash spoke up.

"Ash, we're also getting low on supplies. I think we should start heading for Pewter City to restock." Brock pointed out.

"That's fine with me!" Misty added.

"Okay, fine! We'll train later!" Ash sighed.

"Ash, can I ask you a question?"

"What, Chris?"

"I plan to try for the Boulderbadge (Pokedex Info: The first of 8 badges you need to get) once we get to Pewter. Do you think you could help me train for it on the way through Viridian Forest?"

"That's fine. I'll find a few Bug Catchers for you to battle along the way if you'd like."

"Great! I definitely don't want to battle you... at least, not yet!"I said, laughing.

A few days later, while we were hiking through the woods, Brock was holding the map upside down and Misty was wailing on Ash with that mallet for scaring her with a bug. All in all, a pretty normal day. But then, as we walked through a clearing, a strange gas began to blow out of the trees. As we were coughing, two voices started to speak.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

At this point, I noticed that Ash, Misty, and Brock were all getting giant sweatdrops.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

Then two older teenagers with extremely odd hairdos and clothes that had a large "R" on them jumped out of the bushes.

"Jessie!" said the girl with a LONG red hairdo that stuck out behind her for about 1-½ feet before curling down.

"James!" called the boy with blue hair that was parted evenly along the top and went down to his chin as he flourished a black rose.

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

Then a Meowth (Pokedex Info: A cat-type Pokemon. This particular Meowth has the singular honor of being the only Pokemon known that can speak the human language.) appeared out of nowhere to stand in front of the two teenagers.

"Meowth, dat's right!"

Then, after this speech was finally finished, Ash, sporting an enormous sweatdrop, said "Team Rocket, have you ever thought about giving it up?"

"This is the infamous Team Rocket?" I asked, already knowing the answer from watching the TV show.

(Pokedex Info: Team Rocket is a criminal organization that uses Pokemon for their own evil ends.)

"That's right, little boy. Now, twerp, hand over that Pikachu!" Jessie snapped.

"No way! Pikachu, let's go!" Ash cried.

"Ash, let me handle them. I need the experience, and they look like pushovers anyway." I said.

Team Rocket began popping several veins as Ash agreed with my analysis. "What do you mean, we look like pushovers?" James shouted.

I chose to ignore them and called Abra forward from its usual perch on my shoulder. "Abra, let's show these pushovers how to do it!"

"We aren't as easy as you think! Arbok, (Pokedex Info: A large poison-type cobra-like Pokemon) go!" Jessie said while throwing out a Pokeball that resolved itself into an Arbok.

"Weezing, you go too!" James ordered, as his Weezing (Pokedex Info: A large poison-type gas-producing Pokemon that resembles two round balls stuck together with holes for escaping gas) floated out from the trees the gas had come from.

"Abra, you show them! Use Confusion!" Abra used Confusion on both the enemy Pokemon, confusing Weezing and damaging both of them about 1/3 of their health.

"Arbok, use Poison Sting!" Jessie commanded.

"Weezing, Sludge!" James ordered.

"Abra, dodge with Teleport and follow up with Kinesis!"

Arbok attempted to use Poison Sting, but Abra teleported out of the way. Weezing, being confused, used Sludge on Arbok instead. Then from its new position, Abra used Kinesis, throwing both Weezing and Arbok against a nearby tree and knocking them both out. (I know in the game, Kinesis only reduces accuracy, but I want it to do this, so there!)

"No!" both Team Rocket members shouted.

But then, Abra began to glow.

"What's happening, Abra?" I asked.

"Chris, it's evolving!" Brock said. (Pokedex Info: Evolving has a different meaning when applied to Pokemon. Evolution occurs in two ways- from becoming stronger or from using an Evolution stone on it. What evolution does is it changes the Pokemon into a stronger and usually larger form.)

So I watched as my Abra grew larger, grew a thicker tail, and produced a spoon from somewhere to become a Kadabra. (Pokedex Info: A Kadabra is the next stage of an Abra. Its tail resembles a fox's. It has a red star on its forehead and carries a spoon in one three-fingered hand. But it wasn't done. It then turned to Team Rocket and their Pokemon and started to concentrate. Then its spoon bent while a multicolored beam shot forth from its forehead, hitting Team Rocket and hurling them and their Pokemon into the air. 

"Jessie, I guess we really are pushovers!" James sniveled.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" they both shouted, disappearing into the sky with a twinkle effect.

"Great job, Kadabra!" I shouted while running up to hug it.

"That was great, Chris! With skills like that, you'll have no trouble with my dad, Flint!"

"Your dad's the gym leader now?" I asked.

"It's a long story." Brock said. "Anyway, that was a really strong Psybeam that Kadabra used."

"Is that what it was?" I asked. "I guess that's great! But one thing has to change now, Kadabra!"

"Kadabra?"

"There's no way you're riding on my shoulder now!" I laughed. "Come on, guys! Let's get going!"

So we started heading deeper into the forest, Kadabra floating at my side.

On the way through the forest, I battled several trainers with both Kadabra and Drowzee and won about $2000 in cash. (The League rules dictate that when you lose to another trainer, unless it is just a friendly fight, you must hand over 1/8 of your money.) Kadabra was still at Level 12 when we reached Pewter City, but Drowzee had gone up to Level 9 and now knew Dream Eater. All in all, both of my Pokemon trusted me very much, and I had formed a special bond with both of them. I had even been getting to understand "anime physics" better, and now could sweatdrop, anime-fall, and pop a vein at will. Plus, I had been taking pictures of everything like crazy and I had eight rolls to develop.All through the woods, I got to know all three of the others much better. One thing that still confused me was how Misty sometimes acted a little weird or uncomfortable around Ash, even though Ash had not noticed. I still thought Brock noticed it, but who knows?

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_PDM: So another part done... Good work on my story, huh? *sighs and relaxes in chair* Wait a minute, what's that noise? *looks up* O_O Oh... shit... *Team Rocket falls with a crash through skylight and lands on floor*_

_Jessie: Oww... Wait a minute! It's the brat that wrote us into that cruddy story! Let's get him!_

_James/Meowth: Yeah!_

_PDM: Uh-oh... Mew, get rid of them!_

_M: Okay! *lifts up TR with psychic powers and floats out the door*_


	4. Chapter 4

Screensaver Problems Part 4

_PDM: Okay, now that that's over with, welcome back to my story! Thank you for reading this far, and please keep on doing so!_

_Uh-oh... Not again... Last time we left, Chris and co. were just leaving Viridian Forest. What will happen next? What will they do at Pewter? And lastly, WHEN WILL I MAKE THIS MORE OF A ROMANCE?_

_M: I'm back!_

_PDM: Where'd you put them?_

_M: The next room over._

_PDM: O_OThat's my sister's room! She'll kill me! *pounding at the door is heard* Quick, Mew, hold the door closed!_

_M: On it! *floats off*_

_PDM: Well, before I go repulse my sister's assault, I have two more things to say to you..._

_Send all feedback, comments, etc. over here! Send as much food as you can, too! Looks like I'll be in here for a while! And second,_

_GO FORTH, READERS!_

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Then, finally, we reached Pewter City. Like the sign said when we went in, it was a "stone-gray city." Even so, it looked like heaven to us all, because we were too tired of sleeping outside and eating Brock's cooking. I decided to treat the others to lunch before we found a hotel and I went to my gym competition. "Hey, guys, do you want to go get lunch? My treat!"

"Sure!" was the unanimous response, and we headed for a small place they told me about called the "Hungry Snorlax." There we got a table and a few menus. I was sitting next to Brock on the outside to keep him from hitting on the waitress, and Ash and Misty were on the other side. Once again, I noticed that Misty kept edging toward and then away from Ash. That was still a puzzle to me, and one that I had to figure out. But not now, because I had a badge to win!

"Guys, I'm going to head for the gym now! There's a badge with my name on it waiting!" I said, doing one of those poses that Ash patented.

"Chris, shouldn't we find a hotel first?" Misty asked.

I did one of those anime falls. "Oh, right..."

"Kadabra ra kad!"

"Quiet, you! I am not absentminded!" I retorted. "Anyway, let's find a hotel, then I'll drop off my film, and THEN I'll go try for the Boulderbadge." I pulled my specialized Town Map out of my pack as we left, Pikachu and Kadabra still licking ketchup off their paws. I found a pretty good hotel on the map that was close to the gym and the Pokemon museum. (Pewter is famous for its museum that has a great collection of Pokemon fossils.) It was called the Cobalt Resort. We headed for the hotel.

When we got there, I went to check us in. We had decided to pool our money beforehand, so there were no problems with dividing up the cost. But the only problem was that, apparently, there was a big festival going on now, and all the rooms in all the hotels were booked up except for two rooms here. I immediately paid up for the rental, because I didn't like the looks some of the tourists in line behind me were giving me. Taking the room keys, I went back to tell the others that we only had two rooms instead of three. They had several varying reactions.

"What?" shouted Ash.

"It's going to be awfully crowded if the three of us share a room." Brock noted.

"It's just bad timing, guys." I said.

"And it's perfectly fine with me!" Misty said.

"Yeah, easy for you to say! You get a room all to yourself and we have to jam together in one room!" Ash retorted.

"That's not my fault!" she shouted back. It was starting to look like they might be going to get into a big fight, and I figured it might be wise to stop it.

"Guys, calm down. Relax! You've had to camp out in worse conditions than this! So what's the big deal?"

"I guess you're right, Chris. Sorry, Misty." Ash apologized, sticking out his hand to shake.

"I'm sorry, too, Ash." Misty said, then shaking Ash's hand lightly.

"Good. Now that that's over with, it's getting a little late, so I think I'll have to postpone my gym challenge until tomorrow. Sorry, Kadabra!" I said.

"Kadabra kadab!"

"Why don't you guys go get settled in upstairs while I go drop off my film at the concierge desk? I'll join you upstairs in a sec."

"Fine, Chris. See you in a few." Brock said, then they headed upstairs. I dropped off my film, got assurances that it would be finished by tomorrow, and went upstairs.

When I got to our rooms, I found that they were connected by two doors. They had a minibar, a shower, and all that stuff. But the only problem was that it was SMALL! There was no way that three people could fit in there with all their stuff. It would be all we could do to squeeze in two. After listening to Ash and Brock gripe for a few minutes, I decided to drop in on Misty and see how her room looked.

When I went through the doors, I got a shock. Her room was quite a bit bigger than ours. It was still too small for three, but two people could fit in quite comfortably. She was already unpacked and reading a book about water pokemon while Togepi snoozed on a pillow near her.

"Hello, Misty. Are you all set for the night?" I asked.

"Yes." she said, looking up from her book. I had left the doors open, so the sounds of Ash and Brock's complaining were drifting through. "Are you guys having a problem with getting three people to fit in there?" she asked.

"Yeah, sorta..." I replied. But then a brilliant idea occurred to me. "Misty, give me one second. I have to go do something." I said.

"Okay..." she replied, but I was already gone.

I ran back into the second room, shutting the doors behind me. "Guys, be quiet for a minute!" I shouted above the noise.

"What?" they both inquired in a rather annoyed way.

"I have a brilliant idea to make this night easier for all of us." I then proceeded to tell them my plan.

"You call that brilliant?" Ash asked.

"It's better than three in a room." I replied. "Now, Brock, will you go get the stuff we need? Be back here in a quarter hour."

"Fine, Chris. Having you around is pretty nice. Before, we would have just jammed in and tolerated it. But now..." he commented as he left. Ash and I then proceeded to get ourselves ready while Pikachu and Kadabra looked on with interest.

Fifteen minutes later...

Brock returned with a few bags in his hands. "Are you guys ready?" he asked.

"Yep. Did you get what we needed?" I asked.

"Uh-huh. I got the flowers."

"Perfect. Now let's get started." I said.

We all trooped into Misty's room. She looked up in slight surprise to see us all in here with Brock clutching a bouquet of flowers.

"Misty, we came to ask you a big favor." Brock said while handing her the flowers. As she looked on in slight amusement and puzzlement, we fell onto our knees and said in unison just like we had rehearsed, "Please have pity on us! Please let one of us share your room!"

"Fine." she said. "You know, these flowers are great and all, and it's sweet that you went to all this trouble, but you could have just asked."

"OH!" we all shouted, doing a nasty anime fall.

Picking myself up and dusting myself off, I asked the BIG question, "Which one of us will you let stay in here?"

"Well, Ash snores, and Brock invariably talks in his sleep about his fantasy girls..."

"I do not!" they both shouted.

"Yes, you do. Anyway, as I was saying, Chris doesn't snore or talk in his sleep that I know of, so I'll just let him stay in here. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that he was the one who thought up this entire thing. Am I right?"

"Yes, Misty." I replied over Ash and Brock grumbling about how some people had all the luck. "Thank you!"

After that, I got all my stuff moved into her room and got my sleeping bag unrolled on the floor. There was only one bed in each room, and she was using it, of course. Ash and Brock had played rock-paper-scissors for the bed, with Brock using rock every time and winning. So both Ash and me were on the floor for tonight. Then we ordered room service for dinner. Afterwards, I asked Misty something I had wanted to do for a little while.

"Misty, I don't want to offend or embarrass you or anything, but I wanted to know if I could get a few pictures of you. Not to mean anything weird, and I have a girlfriend back home, (I just said that to help) but you are the perfect model for any amateur photographer. Your clothes, hair, and temperament all combine to do that." (In case you, the reader, are wondering, no, I did not have a crush on her. I only wanted to take pictures for those reasons.)

"What a great compliment, Chris! I'd be glad to pose for any pictures you want."

So for most of that evening, I took a bunch of shots of her and her Pokemon, and a few shots of just her, because what neither Ash nor Brock had noticed was that they had a serious babe right under their noses. I was slightly surprised that Brock hadn't started chasing her, so I asked her about it.

"Well, Chris, think about it. Two Gym Leaders? I don't think that'd be possible."

"But why hasn't Ash noticed, either?"

"Well, I really don't know if he has or has not. He doesn't talk to me about that stuff, although I'm pretty sure that he talks about it to Brock." She looked a little weird again when she said this. It was nothing major except for a slight shift in her tone when she mentioned Ash.That still puzzled me, although now I had another clue- I could try talking to Brock.

Much later that night, we all changed into our pajamas, said goodnight to each other, and went to bed. Kadabra dropped off right away, but I lay awake for quite a while. I was thinking about many conflicting things in my mind. First, I was a little nervous about the fact that I was not homesick at all. I was worried that I would not go home if I ever got the chance. Then I wondered about who had made that screensaver, and if whoever it was would ever give me the chance to go home. But the one thing I thought about the most was what was happening with Misty about Ash. It seemed kind of weird what her reaction was to Ash most of the time compared to the few times I had caught her off guard. I had not been watching Ash as closely, but I could ask Brock about that tomorrow. But suddenly, I heard someone talking.

It was Misty. I prided myself on my good hearing, so I was able to make out some of what she was saying.

"Ash... my love... Ash... together forever... Ash... my love..." Then she started singing something under her breath that I couldn't make out, but my suspicions were confirmed. She loved Ash, but she was too afraid to tell him because she wouldn't be able to take it if he rejected her. I resolved to have a long talk with Brock the next morning. Then I finally fell asleep, accompanied by Misty's melodious voice singing.

The next morning, Misty woke me up. When I looked over at the clock, I groaned. "Misty, what's--" I broke off abruptly as I saw her face. Her eyes were red from what appeared to be tears and she looked very sad, yet determined.

"Chris, I never thanked you for helping with the fight yesterday. That meant a lot to me."

"You're welcome--" Once again, I broke off as she continued, mostly to herself.

"I don't know what I'd do if Ash got so mad he paid me back for that bike. Then I wouldn't be able to use that excuse anymore... I couldn't live without him..."

I thought for a minute and then decided on my course of action. "You really have it bad for him, don't you?" I asked.

For a second, she looked like her old self, with fire in her eyes as she reached for the dreaded mallet. I had not felt its bite yet, but it seemed like I was about to. She swung the thing toward me and I winced, imagining the pain. But the mallet stopped an inch from my nose, and when I looked up at her, she was looking at nothing in particular and looking sad again. Emboldened by my reprieve, I decided to push on. "I heard you last night." I explained. "But even before that, I was able to see a few small signs. I doubt anyone else noticed, though."

Misty seemed to be fighting a fierce internal battle with herself. Finally, one side seemed to prevail. She turned to me, the sadness, depression, and red-rimmed eyes seemingly thrown off. I figured this was how she had managed to hide the other times this had happened. "Chris, are you the kind of person that can keep a secret?"

"Definitely. You can trust me with anything less than murder."

"All right. I guess I needed to tell someone eventually, and Brock's not the best person with his less-than-perfect charms. The truth is, what you've been noticing and what you guessed is all true. I... I can't even say it!"

"Don't worry about it, Misty. I understand what you mean."

"But I have to say it to someone! I've only had myself to talk to about this, and I almost drove myself crazy! So..." She then began to concentrate really hard, because she was apparently making a supreme effort to finally say this. "I... like... Ash... There. Don't make me do that again."

"But I didn't..."

"I know. But now that you know, will you please promise not to tell Ash?"

"I promise completely, Misty. Thank you for trusting me so much. Now, not to be rude, but it's way too early to wake up, so do you think we could both go back to sleep?"

"Yeah, I guess so. You probably know my sleep was not the most restful anyway."

So we both went back to sleep, both feeling considerably more relaxed. The next morning, I woke up to smell some sort of muffin toasting. When I got out of my bag, I saw that everyone else was up and having breakfast. When I walked into the other room, everyone said good morning.

"We didn't want to wake you up. You looked so tired we decided to let you sleep in a little." Brock said.

"Thanks. Can you pass a muffin? I'm starving!" I asked.

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_PDM: So I finally managed to get rid of my sister, make this into a romance, and have some food! Thanks to all of you readers who sent food, although I'm not sure how you managed to do it..._

M: Actually, I was hoping you'd starve. 

PDM: That's very nice. Thanks.


	5. Chapter 5

Screensaver Problems Part 5

_PDM: Wow... you kept reading... Well, I have to summarize. It's the code of the ficwriters. (I looked it up during the break) So, Misty made a major confession about her true feelings, and she made it to yours truly! Let's see what happens next, shall we?_

_M: I know what happens next!_

_PDM: No fair using your psychic powers._

_M: Darn. They'll just have to read, then._

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We ate breakfast, and then I decided to go down and see if my film was ready yet, and then go do the Pokemart purchases for everyone while the others went to do a few more errands. We decided to meet at a certain restaurant for lunch. Then we would decide what to do next.

I headed straight for the Pokemart to buy the various healing items we needed. I jammed for the store owner with my Pokeflute again. (This time, I played both theme songs!) He gave me a 20% discount, bringing the total plus food to about $10,000. Then I backtracked to the hotel to pick up all the film plus the last two rolls of Misty last night I had dropped off later that night. I then dropped Kadabra and Drowzee off at the Pokemon Center in the daycare for a little R&R before the big battle. Afterwards, I headed for the restaurant, which was called the Vulpix Café. I got a table for four and waited. In about ten minutes, Misty and Brock showed up loaded down with bags. More accurately, Brock was carrying all the bags and being dragged by the ear by Misty. I looked outside and saw Officer Jenny. That explained it. Misty sat down next to me and Brock sat on the other side on the inside. Brock always had to sit on the inside so he wouldn't hit on every pretty girl that passed.

"Hey, guys. Have a good shopping trip?" I asked.

"Yeah, except Romeo here had to hit on the checkout woman and almost get us thrown out." Misty said, shooting Brock a dirty look.

"I have the pictures here, if you want to take a look. We should wait for Ash before we start."

"Okay. I think Ash said he was going to call Professor Oak, so he might be a few minutes more." Brock noted.

I handed them the pictures, holding back the two rolls of Misty. I wanted to respect her wishes, so while Brock was preoccupied with staring at a picture that had a girl in the background, I asked her if it was okay to show the pictures to the others.

"That's fine, I guess."

"It should be okay, cause I plan to shoot them, too, at least to protect Ash's ego."

"Fine."

Right about then Ash walked in. He sat down, apparently in pretty good spirits. "Gary just tried to compete in the Pokemon championships and lost again!" he practically cheered.

"Gary Oak, you mean?" I asked. "The infamous snotty cheerleader-packing rival?"

"That's him. But at least I have one advantage over him- he never got an Earthbadge, and I did!"

"Ash, you know that's unfair! He had to fight Giovanni and Mewtwo, and you had to fight Team Rocket! That's about the same difference as a Mew is to a Magikarp in terms of power and intelligence." Misty said.

"Definitely in intelligence, at least!" I chuckled. "Should we order?" Everyone agreed, and I called a waitress over. This one required a mallet hit to calm Brock down, but we managed to order. I then handed the pictures of Misty over to Ash, since Brock was unconscious and lying on top of the others. He looked at them pretty intently and seemed to be debating whether to keep one or not.

{The plot thickens.} I thought. Luckily, he put them all back and handed them over. Then our food came, Brock woke up, and we started eating.

In between bites, we discussed what to do next. We all wanted to visit Brock's family, and I persuaded the others to let me battle Flint first before we went to visit. We paid the bill and headed for the Pokecenter to pick up my Pokemon, and then straight for the Pewter Gym and a Boulderbadge.

On the way, Misty saw a sale in a department store and practically dragged the boys in there while I kept walking. Near the gym, I saw an old man with spiked hair like Brock's that had some rocks laid out on a blanket with price tags on them.

"Special rocks! Unique in the whole world!" he was shouting into the crowd, but nobody noticed. I decided to stop and wait for Ash, Brock, and Misty here while I looked at this guy's rocks.

I stopped with Kadabra and took a look at the rocks. They didn't look all that unique, so I decided to ask what made them so unique. "Sir, what's so unique about these rocks?"

The old man gave me an analyzing look. Apparently deciding I was trustworthy, he beckoned me to lean in close. "I am a rock expert, young man. Some of these rocks are evolution stones, and some might even be new types of evolution stones! But nobody will even look at them, not even when they're a quarter of the price they are in Celadon!"

"Evolution stones? I thought there were no new ones!"

"Ah, they never did find a Psychic Stone or a Poison Stone among others, did they?"

"Good point."

"Would you like to buy one?"

"How much are the Psychic Stones?"

"Precisely $15,000."

"WHAT?"

"No, no, no! Just for you, I will give you a..." Here he started clicking on a calculator. "A two-thirds discount. So only $5,000 for you!"

"That seems like a good deal... I'll take it, but can you guarantee that they work?"

"I promise you, they do work perfectly. I have had cause to use some of them in my career." This statement was coupled with a secret smile.

"Fine. Here's your money." I said, handing over the $5,000, hoping I wasn't being stupid.

"Thank you, and here is your Psychic Stone! Take good care of it."

"You're welcome. Now I'm off to get the Boulderbadge!"

"You are going for the Boulderbadge? Good luck. I hear the gym leader is the best ever!" And with this, the weird guy threw a small ball on the ground. It exploded in a blast of smoke, and when all the smoke cleared, the man was gone.

"Okay, that's weird..." I said to myself as I saw the others beating their way through the crowd, loaded down with bags. "Are you about done shopping? Can we go to the gym now?" I called.

"Yes, we are. That is unless Misty doesn't see any more sales on the way!" Ash replied, having to dodge the mallet shortly afterwards.

"Good. Let's go!" I said, walking off.

In about ten minutes' walk, we reached the gym. It looked like it had been carved from a boulder, and who knows? Maybe it had. This gym was of the rock-type, unsurprisingly. We all entered it and were greeted by a door that was blocked by a boulder. A voice then suddenly came out of nowhere. It said, "Which of you wishes to challenge for the Boulderbadge?"

"I do." I said, stepping forward.

"Please verfy that you are a licensed Pokemon trainer."

I held up my Pokedex, where it opened and started its standard opening spiel.

"Very good. The rest of you must enter through the spectator's door to the right."

The others left after wishing me good luck. Then the voice continued. "To prove your worth, you are required to battle one trainer before being allowed access to the gym leader for the final battle. If you are ready for your first battle, then step through the door and let the battle begin!" With this, the voice died away as the boulder began to crack. It split cleanly in half and slid away, allowing me entry. I stepped through.

The doors opened into a darkened arena where I was greeted by a young child of maybe ten. He introduced himself as Junior, short for Junior Trainer. "You're light years away from facing the gym leader!" he shouted.

Suddenly, the lights snapped on, revealing a broad, flat arena with seats on either side. I looked to the right and saw Ash, Misty, and Brock all sitting on one of the benches. "Go, Chris!" they all cheered. I smiled at them and turned to the matter at hand. Junior released his first pokemon.

"Pokeball, go!" he shouted as he tossed the red-and-white ball out. It opened as it hit, and red light spilled out and transformed itself into a Sandshrew. (Pokedex Info: A Sandshrew is a small mole-like Pokemon of the rock type. Its skin is hard as rock.) He then waited for my choice of Pokemon. I decided to save Kadabra for the final battle if necessary, and told him to stay back. He obeyed, albeit reluctantly. I pulled my other Pokeball off my belt and tossed it out. My Drowzee appeared.

The same voice from the doorway rang out again. "The battle to proceed shall be two Pokemon each. Potions and healing items only! Let the battle begin!"

I took the initiative, calling for Drowzee to use Hypnosis. Drowzee began to move his arms and create sleep waves.

"Sandshrew, Dig!" Junior ordered.

Sandshrew dug underground and dodged the sleep waves. Knowing what would happen next, I gave Drowzee a new command. "Drowzee, brace yourself! When it pops out, use Hypnosis again!" Drowzee nodded, signifying understanding. Then the ground under Drowzee began to shake as he braced himself. Then Sandshrew popped up, hitting Drowzee, but only damaging him slightly due to his defense move. Then Drowzee used the Hypnosis move again. Sandshrew wasn't quick enough that time, and fell asleep.

"Good move." Junior acknowledged.

"Thanks. Now, Drowzee, Dream Eater!"

Drowzee concentrated, powering up for its best move while Sandshrew snoozed. Then Drowzee let out a yell as it shot a purple ray that seemed to have a ghostly face at Sandshrew. The ray entered Sandshrew's head, and then Sandshrew began to shake and moan in his sleep. Then the ray appeared again and shot back at Drowzee. Drowzee absorbed it and was healed as he ate Sandshrew's dream.

"Now follow up with Tackle while it's still asleep!" I called.

Drowzee charged straight at the Sandshrew and hit it head on. The Sandshrew bounced back a few steps and woke up. It tried to get back up, but couldn't and crumpled back to the ground with one final cry.

"Sandshrew is unable to battle! Drowzee is the winner!" the unseen voice rang out again.

"Great job, Chris!" Ash called from the sidelines. "At this rate, you'll have the Boulderbadge by dinner!"But he shut up quickly as Brock began to grow, anime style, in his anger at Ash dissing his dad, however indirectly.

I was chuckling to myself as Junior recalled his KO'd Sandshrew in a flash of light, shaking his head. 

"Pretty good, but I still have one more Pokemon. You won't defeat this one! Pokeball, go!" he shouted as he tossed out another red-and-white ball. It opened in the typical flash of red light to become a Diglett. (Pokedex Info: A Diglett is a mole-type Pokemon that is always partially underground so only its head shows.)

"A Diglett, huh? Drowzee, let's go!" I called as Drowzee moved up.

"Your Hypnosis trick won't work this time. Diglett, Dig!"

"Drowzee, use Confusion on it when it comes up!"

Diglett dug underground and popped out underneath Drowzee, damaging it. Then Drowzee attempted to use Confusion on Diglett, but Diglett just popped underground again.

"Like I said, your tricks won't work on Diglett. He can pull his head underground at 100 mph, much faster than any Confusion or Tackle attack."

I thought for a second, and then decided on what I had to do. "Drowzee, return!" I shouted, returning him to his pokeball in a flash of light. "Kadabra, go!"

Kadabra eagerly stood up from where he had been practicing bending his spoon. "Kadabra dabra!" He floated forward to battle position.

"Why'd he do that?" Ash asked.

"He knew that Drowzee was overmatched in terms of speed, so he decided to even the odds a bit." Brock replied.

Meanwhile, Junior commanded Diglett to use Dig yet again. But this time would be different. "Kadabra, Teleport!"

Kadabra waited until Diglett was just about to break through and then Teleported away to a different spot, letting Diglett pop out and look around in confusion for a split second. And a split second was all we needed.

"Kadabra, Psybeam!"

Kadabra immediately shot out the rainbow-hued beam, which hit Diglett dead on. Diglett was severely damaged, and became confused. (Pokedex Info: With every psychic attack, there is a 10% chance of confusion, which means that three things can happen. The Pokemon can either do its attack correctly, attack itself, or use a completely different attack, but, even then, it might still attack itself.)

"No! Diglett, use Scratch!"

"Perfect! Kadabra, use Confusion!"

Diglett was so confused that it scratched itself instead, putting it on the brink of fainting. Then Kadabra followed up with its Confusion attack, leaving no contest. Diglett slumped right over in its hole without even a last cry.

"Diglett is unable to battle! Kadabra and Drowzee are the winners! Junior has no more Pokemon! Chris has won the match!" the strange voice pronounced yet again.

"Darn! I messed up in more ways than one! Light years isn't time, it's distance! Very good battle, however. You and your cheering section may proceed to the final battle." Junior said.

Suiting him to his words, two more stones cracked behind him, one in the arena and one in the stands, both revealing a door leading to the final match. I took a second to give each of my Pokemon a Potion, and then went up to the stands to talk to the others before I went on with them.

"Great battle, Chris!" Ash said.

"That was a really smart move, taking out Drowzee like that!" Misty added.

"Thanks, guys. But I'm betting that guy's nothing compared to Flint."

"Correct!" Brock practically shouted, being nailed on the head with a mallet and in the gut with a fist two seconds later.

"You're supposed to be rooting for Chris!" Ash and Misty both shouted at the same time. Afterwards, though Ash didn't notice, Misty turned away to hide a blush. (Guess why!)

"Okay, I'm going on. Wish me luck!"

"Good luck!" Ash and Misty both said, followed up by a rather strained duplicate from Brock, although I didn't know if it was due to his slight bias for his father or the fact that his face and probably his stomach as well were mostly a solid mass of bruises.

I walked on through the newly formed doorway as my friends did the same a little farther away. The room that we entered was very different from any other battleground I had been in. The floor was littered with stones of random shapes and sizes. There were small squares with railings around them that were apparently for the trainers. The seats were still there, though, so I waited as the others sat down. Then a voice rang out.

"Please step into the trainer's ring and release your pokemon." Strangely, this voice sounded slightly familiar. I had heard it somewhere before, but I could not figure out where...

Suddenly, there was a small explosion at the other trainer's ring. Smoke billowed out from the ring for a few seconds, and when it cleared, a man with spiked hair similar to Brock's was standing there clad in a trenchcoat. He looked at me for a few seconds.

"So it's you. Have you used my stone yet?" he asked. Suddenly, the memory of the strange rock seller and his subsequent disappearance popped into my mind.

"You!" I shouted as Brock stood up in the stands and shouted "Dad!"

"Huh?" the man, who I now knew to be Flint Shale, said as he whipped his head toward the source of the shout. "Brock!"

"Hello, Dad."

"So, Brock, is this one of your friends?"

"Yes."

"Well, just know I won't go easy on him!"

"I don't expect you to, Dad."

Then Flint cracked a small smile and said, "Your little brothers and sisters miss your cooking."

"Hello? I'm sure this is a tearful reunion, but do you think we could battle first?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Let me introduce myself. My name is Flint Shale, the leader of the Pewter City Gym. I believe in rock-hard defense. Do you still wish to challenge me?" Here he smiled again and turned to Brock. "I kept using your famous gym leader speech, son..."

"Oy!" I said, doing one of those anime falls. "Can we battle already? Yes, I wish to challenge you!"

Suddenly Flint's eyes became hard as rock as he looked at me and my Kadabra. "That is your choice, and you are now bound to it. I wish you luck. You will need it."

"This battle will be two Pokemon each! The winner of the battle will receive a Boulderbadge!" the same voice shouted.

"Go, Onix!" Flint shouted, throwing out a brown pokeball. The light that spilled forth transformed itself into an Onix. (Pokedex Info: An Onix is a rock snake Pokemon that resembles a giant snake made up of sections that look like boulders. It is nearly thirty yards long.) "Choose your Pokemon."

"I choose Drowzee!" I shouted, tossing out Drowzee's Pokeball. He appeared in the same way with a flash of red light. "Drowzee drow!" he screeched upon seeing the Onix.

"Let the battle begin!" the voice shouted.

Flint shouted his first command. "Go, Onix! Use Bind now!"

"Drowzee, let's show them size doesn't matter! Use Hypnosis!"

The Onix crawled up to Drowzee like an anvalanche falling. Drowzee was visibly rattled, but managed to use Hypnosis. But the Onix just shook it off and wrapped itself around Drowzee, squeezing it tight. Drowzee let out an anguished squeal as it was squeezed.

"Drowzee, you can do it! Hang in there and use Confusion!"

Drowzee was on the edge of fainting, but managed to use Confusion. This time, Onix could not shake it off. It only damaged Onix slightly due to its high defense, but it did manage to confuse Onix. 

The only problem with that was that a damaged and confused Onix is a dangerous Onix. It uncoiled from Drowzee and went on a rampage. We, the trainers, were safe, but the audience was not as well protected. Onix was using Rock Throw randomly, and it used it in Misty's direction. Misty was too paralyzed with fear to move, even with everyone screaming for her to. Ash, then, showing some quick thinking, whipped out Squirtle (Pokedex Info: A water-type turtle that can shoot powerful streams of water.) and commanded it to blast away the rocks, saving Misty.

"Are you all right?" he asked, recalling Squirtle.

"Yes, I'm fine, Ash. Thank you for saving me!"

Ash blushed. "It wasn't that big of a deal..."

"Oh, yes, it was! I'll find some way to pay you back for it, Ash Ketchum, and don't you forget it!" Misty said with a lot of conviction.

"Thanks, Misty..." Ash said, blushing again.

While this drama was unfolding in the stands, I had managed to get Drowzee to use Hypnosis on Onix, calming it down. I then used Dream Eater on it a few times, and managed to knock it out by a lucky chance. I was beginning to think I was a little overmatched here, but I had not neglected to notice the events in the stands, and I had seen that Brock and Flint had noticed, too. Brock seemed to be paying special attention, though.

Flint recalled Onix with a snort. "You got lucky that time, but this one will end your lucky streak." He then threw out another brown pokeball, releasing a Geodude. (Pokedex Info: A Geodude is a rock-type Pokemon. It looks like a rock one foot in diameter with two strong, muscular arms and a face. It has no legs. It also hovers about two-and-a-half feet in the air.)

"Drowzee, do you wanna stay out there?" I asked.

"Drowzee drow owzee!" he said, nodding.

"Okay, but if you get too tired, I'll have you go out, okay?"

Flint then gave the first order. "Geodude, Rock Throw!"

"Drowzee, use Tackle!"

Geodude picked up one of the rocks littered around the arena and threw it at Drowzee. He valiantly tried to dodge it, but it connected solidly, and Drowzee fainted.

"You did a good job, Drowzee." I said softly as I recalled him. I then called Kadabra out. "Kadabra, you're my last chance!"

"Geodude, use Rock Throw again!"

"That won't work this time, Flint! Kadabra, Teleport!"

Geodude tossed another boulder at Kadabra, who only teleported away, unharmed.

"Grr... Geodude, use Rock Throw again!"

"Kadabra, Teleport and follow up with Psybeam!"

Kadabra Teleported away from the rock again and then used Psybeam from its new perch on a rock. The beam hit Geodude solidly, and almost knocked it out. Geodude was reeling where it hovered.

"Perfect, Kadabra!"

"No! Geodude! I only have one last chance!" Flint said as he dug for something in one of his trenchcoat's pockets. He found it after a second. He held up what appeared to be a normal rock, but then he threw it at Geodude. I was slightly puzzled. Why would he try to help knock Geodude out? But then I got a shock. When the rock hit Geodude, it began to glow. Then Geodude started to grow as well. It seemed to grow bigger and gain two more arms. When the glow died, the stone was gone and the Geodude had become a Graveler. (Pokedex Info: A Graveler is the second stage of a Geodude. It has four arms instead of two and no longer hovers. But it weighs near to 200 pounds, and has a devastating Rollout attack.)

"That was a Rock Evolution Stone?" Ash whispered.

"Right." Brock replied.

"Uh oh..." I said. Kadabra clearly mirrored my feelings.

"Graveler, Rollout!" Flint ordered.

"Shit! Kadabra, Teleport!"

Graveler rolled at a speed in excess of 100 mph into the rock Kadabra was standing on. Kadabra just managed to Teleport out of the way before the rock exploded in a rain of rock shards. From his new perch, Kadabra looked a little uneasy.

"Graveler, Rollout!"

"Kadabra, no more running away! Psybeam!"

Graveler began to roll toward the rock. Kadabra was standing on. I could see that Kadabra wanted to Teleport, but it instead charged up and released its Psybeam. The Psybeam hit the Graveler's skin and simply dissolved, having no effect. Then Graveler connected with the rock, and it exploded, throwing Kadabra high in the air.

"No! Kadabra!" I shouted, almost in tears.

Kadabra landed on the ground with a nasty-sounding crunch.

"Graveler, finish it! Rollout!"

Graveler started its roll, aiming for Kadabra on the ground. I knew that in a few seconds, I would only have a Drowzee for my pokemon. "Kadabra, you've gotta get up! Come on! I can't make it without you!" I shouted with tears brimming in my eyes.

But Kadabra did not move, and Graveler rolled right into it with an even nastier-sounding crunch. When the dust cleared, Kadabra was lying still on the ground.

"No! Kadabra! You were my only true friend!" I screamed, finally starting to cry. But all of a sudden, I felt something new in my head. It was like a little tickling sensation. I concentrated on it, and suddenly I realized what it was. It was Kadabra making a psychic connection! Hope springing to life, I concentrated on the connection and let my strength and hope flow into him. On the arena, he began to glow with a red light. Suddenly, he was healed, as he sprang up into the air and began to float out of Graveler's reach.

"What? How?" Flint shouted.

"Kadabra! You're okay!" I cried, tears still falling. "Kadabra, let's finish this!"

"Graveler, Rock Smash!"

The Graveler started to roar as it prepared for its ultimate attack. But Kadabra floated in the air, seemingly unconcerned. He looked at me and I nodded. Then he began to concentrate on the Graveler. His spoon that he always held in one clawed hand began to shake, and then it flew up in the air in front of his forehead and started to glow. As I watched, the spoon started to be crushed into a new shape that resembled a small round bullet. Then the spoon started to glow with psychic energy. Finally, Kadabra let out a yell and launched the bullet at Graveler in a devastating Psi Bullet attack. Graveler gave a smirk, if that was possible, and simply waited. But he was in for a shock- when the bullet hit him, it smashed into his skin and embedded itself in there. Then it released all its psychic energy in one giant explosion. When the dust cleared, Flint's Graveler was lying on the ground with an expression kind of like this:X_X

It had been knocked out at last.

My voice rose with Kadabra's and the others in the seats for one giant cheer. I ran toward Kadabra, who was floating toward the ground, obviously spent. My tears drying up, I hugged him. He smiled at me as he produced a spoon out of nowhere.

"That was a very good match." Flint said, recalling his Graveler. "You and your Kadabra's bond was so strong that it broke through even the defenses of rock." Then he walked over to me. "You may now take this Boulderbadge with my blessing. I wish you very good luck on your journey." He held out a Boulderbadge, the badge we had worked so hard for. I took it and clipped it onto the side of my beret. Just then, the others burst onto the ring.

"Chris, great job! That was a heck of a battle!" Ash shouted.

Misty gave me a quick hug. "You did the best I've ever seen anyone do."

"Thanks, you guys."

"Dad, we had planned to go visit you and the kids after the battle. Even though you lost, can we still do that?" Brock asked.

"Sure." Flint said.

"Wait a minute here! I have two extremely tired Pokemon here! Do you think we could go to the Pokecenter first?"

"That's fine." Flint said. "I'll go with you. It's been a while since I saw Nurse Joy..." 

"Now I know where Brock gets it from." Misty said.

A few minutes later, we were at the Pokecenter.

"Nurse Joy, it's wonderful to see you!" both Shales cried, rushing up to her.

"Misty, a little help here?" I asked.

"Certainly." she said, taking out her mallet. Two quick hits, and then we dragged the two unconscious Romeos to a couch.

"Now, Nurse Joy, can you heal my Pokemon?" I asked, holding up the two Pokeballs that Drowzee and Kadabra were in.

"Certainly. One moment, please." She took the pokeballs and walked through a door.

While I was waiting, I talked with the others a little bit about how crazy the battle had been. Then, finally, Nurse Joy returned. "Your pokemon are fighting fit! We hope to see you again!" she said with a sigh.

"Nursing school?" I asked.

"Yep."

"Well, I guess we should wake up Brock and Flint so they can show us where their house is."

So we woke them up, and, a little dizzily, they staggered out on the street and started walking. We followed them. By the time we reached the house on the other side of the town, we had all been introduced to Flint and had been asked to buy stones. But when we got there, a veritable flood or stampede, whatever the word should be, of children ranging in age from three to seven came out of the house running toward Flint and Brock.

When we all went in the house Ash whispered to us, "Now I know how the old lady in the shoe feels!" The house was small, but it seemed like a perfect fit for all the kids. We were practically swamped by requests to see rooms, see tricks, see treasures, and even one to help someone go potty. But in a few minutes, all the kids had been shooed into the backyard, and we were all sitting down and talking.

"Ash, I saw your brave action in the gym. That was something that not many people could or would do." Flint said.

"It wasn't that big of a deal!" Ash said, turning red.

"Yes, it was!" I said. "You thought very quickly to be able to do that."

"Chris, when do you plan to use your Psychic Stone?" Flint asked.

"I don't know. Whenever I feel that the time is right and that my pokemon I choose to use it on is all right with it."

"Good philosophy. You will go far as a trainer."

We talked on through the night, and stayed for dinner. But then it got late, and we headed back to the hotel.

When we got upstairs, I was brushing my teeth when Ash walked into the bathroom. "Chris, I have to ask you something important!" he said, looking extremely nervous. "You know those pictures you have of Misty?"

"Yeah, what about them?" I said through a mouthful of toothpaste. "If you want, I'll shoot you, too."

"It's not that. I wanted to know if... If I could have one of the ones with just Misty."

"Huh." I had almost forgotten Ash's reaction to seeing the pictures in the restaurant. "Sure, go ahead. I won't ask why."

"Thank you, Chris! You're great!" Ash said happily as he left.

{I will definitely have to talk to Brock...} I thought. {This is beginning to get a little weird.}

Later that evening, I used the videophone to call the first Nurse Joy I had met in Viridian.

She picked up on the second ring. "Viridian Pokemon Center."

"Nurse Joy, it's me, Chris!"

"Hello, Chris! How is Abra?"

"It's a Kadabra now! And I won a Boulderbadge today!" I shouted, turning so she could see the badge clipped on my beret.

"Congratulations!"

"And I've found some traveling partners. You might know them- Ash, Misty, and Brock."

"Oh, those three. You know, Ash was the one responsible for us getting a new Pokemon Center."

"How?"

"He and that Pikachu demolished the old one."

"Oh."

"Is that cute redhead still following him?"

"Yeah, Misty."

"You know, I was always surprised that she wasn't interested in him. You know, romantically."

"She might just be..."

"What?"

"Sorry. I was talking to myself. It's getting late, so I'll call you back when we're in the next city."

"Okay, and bye!" Then she hung up.

I went to bed that night a little happier and more content. I was still a little homesick, but I was really getting to like it here.

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PDM: So, that wasn't too bad. Nice battle scene, if I do say so myself.

_M: It was okay, I guess._

_PDM: OKAY? JUST OKAY? Do you want to be released? Lose your cushy muse job?_

_M: NONONO! IT WAS GREAT!_

_PDM: That's better._


	6. Chapter 6

Screensaver Problems Part 6

_PDM: Okay, summary!_

_M: Can I do it?_

_PDM: Fine, but watch it! You're still not off the hook!_

_M: Okay, last chapter, Chris met an odd man and bought a Psychic Stone from him. Then that man turned out to be Flint, Brock's dad and the leader of the Pewter Gym. Chris then proceeded to battle him, with a dramatic part where Ash saved Misty's life, and another dramatic part where Kadabra almost died. Sheesh, can't PDM get any better ideas?_

_PDM: I HEARD THAT!_

_M: Oops. Just read!_

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The next morning, I woke up to find that Brock was the only other one up. I figured that now was a perfect time to ask the questions I had about Misty and Ash. So I went into the other room and said good morning. Then I started to ask.

"Brock, I have a question for you. This may seem a little odd, but does Ash have any interest in Misty?"

"You mean, does he like her?"

"Yes."

"Well, he swore me to secrecy, but I figure you can keep a secret. The truth is that yes, he does like her."

"That's unsurprising."

"I'm pretty sure that Misty also likes him, too.

"That's right. But you can't tell her that I told, because she swore me to secrecy by pain of mallet."

"Good way to keep mouths shut. So the truth is that they both like each other a lot."

"Right, but they're too afraid of rejection and ruining the great friendship they have now."

"So what should we do?"

"I don't know. Where I used to live, what kids would do was get them together at a dance or something."

"That's it! There's a big ball kind of thing in Cerulean City this coming week! Maybe we can get them together there!"

"You know, Brock, that's not a bad idea. But can we get to Cerulean in time? We have to go through Mount Moon first."

"I'm positive. I know that place like the back of my hand now."

"Sure, like all the other times your impeccable sense of direction has gotten us pointed perfectly."

"This time I'm serious!"

"Fine, fine, fine, but we can't let them know we're setting them up. We have to get Ash to ask Misty, too."

"What if she says no?"

"She won't. She owes Ash, remember? Plus, if I tell her about the ball, she'll be hoping for Ash to ask her."

"The only problem will be finding dates for ourselves."

"I'm sure with your excellent romance skills, you'll be fine."

"Hmph! Let's wake them up. We'll have to leave early to get there on time."

"Okay."

So we both went to awaken the others. When they were mostly awake, we dragged them into the kitchen and gave them food while we told them that we had decided to head for Cerulean and that Brock had a very important job that he had to do over there, (We couldn't think of any better story!) so we had to be there in three days. (The ball was in five days.)

But Misty balked a little. "I don't know if I want to go back and have to face my sisters again."

"Oh, come on!" I said. "Don't you want to see how your Horsea's doing?" That decided it for her.

"Yes, I do! Let's get going!"

So that morning, we left Pewter City, heading west for Mount Moon and Cerulean. We walked for about half a day before we reached the foot of Mount Moon. There was a new Pokemon Center there, so we got our pokemon healed before we set out. I had secretly bought some Repels, (Pokedex Info: Repels are items that keep wild Pokemon from attacking) so we had almost no wild Pokemon battles. We were doing fine and almost at the exit until we saw a strange-looking rock. When we ran up to look at it, it seemed to be a fossil of some sort. I was about to pick it up when two familiar voices rang out.

"Prepare for trouble."

"And make that double."

We spun around to see two figures in shadows.

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all peoples in our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

Then the two figures stepped out of the shadows.

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket again!" I sighed, ordering Kadabra forward.

"Do you think you could just give us a break once?" Misty shouted.

"You twerps never let us finish our motto!" James sniffed.

"That fossil is the property of Team Rocket! Now hand it over!" Jessie snapped.

"Not a chance! Now, would you prefer to leave by the door or the roof?" I asked.

"We won't be as easy as last time!" Jessie retorted. "Arbok, go!"

"Weezing, go!"

"Kadabra, Kinesis."

Kadabra simply picked both Pokemon up with its mind and tossed them back at the two Team Rocket members.

"Ouch!" they both shouted as their Pokemon thudded into them. 

We simply turned around, picked up the fossil, and walked away. Jessie started screaming at us (unrepeatable words) as we walked toward the ladder out, but her screaming had disastrous effects. Team Rocket had not used Repel, so the high tones of her voice attracted a swarm of Zubats. (Pokedex Info: Zubat are bat-type Pokemon. They prefer caves and dark places to the overground. They have no eyes, and communicate and see with supersonic waves.) As Team Rocket screamed and ran deeper into the mountain, we shook our heads and climbed up the ladder toward blessed daylight.

Once we were finally out, we walked down the road toward Cerulean City. We got there with two days until the ball. When we went to the hotel, we got two rooms again, but this time they were big enough for three in one and one in the other. I bunked out with Ash and Brock, while Misty stayed by herself. We visited the Pokecenter, I gave Nurse Joy a call, and we settled down for the night. After the others were asleep, Brock and I talked about how to get Ash to ask Misty.

"Tomorrow, Misty is going to want to visit her sisters." Brock said.

"Right. What if we have them help? They could say something about the ball and tease Misty a little about her liking Ash. Maybe they could even help persuade Ash to ask her."

"Good idea. I'll give them a call."

"But wait a minute! What about our dates?"

"We might just have to go without."

"Awww!"

"Chris, it's for Ash and Misty. Make some sacrifices."

"Hypocrite." I said through clenched teeth. "So call Misty's sisters and tell them the plan."

"I will. This seems to be working great."

"True."

After that, Brock got on the phone while I went to bed. The next morning, I asked Misty what she wanted to do.

"Easy- go visit my Horsea and my sisters."

"Okay." {Perfect.} I thought.

So after breakfast, we headed for the Cerulean Gym. Brock and I walked a different way under the pretense of him showing me more of the town. But once we were out of their sight, we ran as fast as we could toward the gym, hoping to get there first to double-check with Misty's sisters.

We made it there before the others and went to find Daisy, Violet, and Lily. We found them feeding some Goldeen in a tank.

"Hello. You're Misty's sisters, right?"

"Yeah, and you, like, must be Chris!" Lily said.

"Right. The others will be here in a few minutes, but we let them walk alone while we came to make sure you were ready."

"Like, duh." Violet said.

"Of course we're ready." Lily said.

"Good. We'll go outside and wait for them. Don't lay on the teasing too harsh, now." Brock said.

"Like, no problem." Daisy said.

So we went outside and watched for Ash and Misty. Finally, they showed up. They seemed to be talking happily to each other.

"I guess that's a good sign." said Brock.

"Me, too." I said.

They walked up to us, asking how we had gotten here so fast.

"We found a shortcut." Brock said.

"Ready to go visit your sisters?" I asked.

"Yes..." Misty sighed.

"Let's go!" I said.

We walked inside and found the girls feeding some other water pokemon.

"Hey, girls, look! It's our little sis!" Daisy cried, acting surprised.

"Like, hi!" Lily said.

"Didja catch any new Pokemon?"

"I'm only back in town to check on my Horsea." Misty said.

"It's, like, over here." Lily said.

"It's surprising you were able to get rooms here." Violet said.

"Why?" Misty asked.

"Well, with the Ultra Ball going on and all, this town is really crowded."

"The Ultra Ball is happening now?" Misty asked.

"Like, yeah." Daisy said.

"Hey, little sis, you could have your boyfriend ask you to go!" Lily said.

"HE IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" Misty shouted.

"Then, like, why are you always following him?"

"HE OWES ME FOR A BIKE!" Misty shouted, popping a vein.

"Calm down, Misty!" Brock said.

"Yeah, sis, we were just teasing you."

"Misty, let's go on back to the hotel." Ash said.

"Fine!" Misty said. They both walked out, and Brock and I stayed long enough to give the girls a wink and our thanks before rushing after them.

On the way back to the hotel and lunch, neither Ash nor Misty said much. Even though both Brock and I tried to get their spirits up, they both seemed depressed about something. Even the hilarious, but familiar, sight of Brock hitting on a girl and being pounded wasn't enough. All through lunch back at the hotel, they were both deep in thought. After lunch, we decided to relax in our rooms for a little while. I decided to see what was up with Misty, so I dropped in on her. 

I sat down on the bed she was lying on and asked, "What's wrong, Misty? You know you can tell me. Is it about your sisters?"

"No. It's not that, though that started it. I'm scared, Chris. I'm scared that Ash will ask me to the ball. I'm scared that he won't. What if he does? What if he doesn't? What if..."

"Misty, it's okay. It'll all work out. Remember, though, if Ash asks you, that you do owe him and like him a lot. Would you say yes if he asked you?"

"Definitely, but I'm still really nervous..."

"Don't worry about it. Everything will be fine. You'll see."

"Thanks, Chris. I'm glad I told you and that you're here to help me."

"Welcome."

I then headed back to the other room. When I got there, Ash was in a deep funk on the bed, so I talked to Brock for a moment and told him what Misty had said.

"Really? She said that?"

"I swear."

"How do we get Ash to ask her?"

"First, let's find out why he's so gloomy."

So we both went over to Ash. When he saw us, he just looked up at us dully and then lay back down.

"Ash, what's up?" Brock asked.

"You wouldn't understand."

"Lemme guess... It's about Misty." I said.

"Wha?" Ash said, sitting bolt upright. "How'd you know?"

"It wasn't that hard when you asked for the picture."

"Crud! Okay, I'll tell you guys what's up."

"Good."

"The deal is, I like Misty a lot, and I really want to ask her to the Ultra Ball."

"So what's the problem?"

"What if she says no? What if she demands I pay her back for the bike and leaves? I value our friendship a lot, and I wouldn't throw it away for anything."

"You know, Ash, she still owes you for saving her in Pewter." Brock said.

"Yeah, and you'll never know until you try. I doubt she'll say no." I said.

"You guys really think so?" Ash asked.

"Yes."

"Yep."

"Okay... I guess I'll ask her. But one last problem."

"What?"

"I hate wearing a tux."

"Just suck it up! If you get to go with Misty, nothing else matters!"

"True. I'll ask her this afternoon."

"You better! The ball is the day after tomorrow!"

But when the time came, Ash had devolved into a gibbering invertebrate. Translated, that means he had become a spineless wimp.

"I can't do it!" Ash wailed while holding on to the end of the bed.

"You gotta!" I shouted while Brock and I attempted to drag him off the bed and towards Misty's room.

"But what if she says no?"

"We've been over this before! Just ask her!"

"But..."

"Sorry, Ash, I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice. Kadabra, please get him to let go of the bed. Be gentle."

"Kadabra ra?"

"Just use Kinesis lightly."

Kadabra used its psychic power for a second to loosen Ash's grip on the bed. With that, Brock and I pulled. Ash flew off the bed and landed on the table, which he grabbed onto.

"It's going to be a long night..."

About five Kinesis attacks later, Ash was on his feet and outside Misty's door. Brock and I had made ourselves scarce, meaning we were hiding farther down the hall.

Ash finally knocked on the door, and Misty answered. Just the sight of her, though, transformed his spine into jelly, and apparently his tongue, too. 

"Um... Misty, I don't know how to say this, but... wouldyougototheballwithme?"

"What?" Misty said, joy starting to rise within her.

"Misty, would you go to the Ultra Ball with me?" Ash managed to grind out before an enormous blush rose to his face.

For answer, Misty stepped closer and gave him a swift peck on the cheek. "Ash, of course I would. Thank you."

Ash was struck dumb by the answer and kiss both, while Brock and I were high-fiving each other. But he did manage to stutter out "Th- thank you, Misty!"

"See you in a few." Misty said with a smile before going back into her room.

"Ash, congrats!" Brock yelled as we jumped up from our hiding place and ran toward him.

"You see? You never know until you try!" I said.

"She... said... yes... and... kissed... me..." Ash seemed to be in shock. He collapsed into our arms, forcing us to drag him back to the room.

Two hours later, Ash woke up from his semi-coma to find Brock, me, and Pikachu playing Pokemon cards.

"Oh, Sleeping Ugly's up." I said.

"Pika."

"Guys, do you realize what just happened?"

"Yeah, we still don't have dates!" I pouted.

"Not that! Misty said yes! She'll go to the ball with me!"

"Oh, that. We'd better go rent you a tux." Brock said.

Ash cringed. "Do we have to?"

"Yes." Brock said.

"And you know, this will be our last chance to get dates." I groaned. "So let's go already."

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_PDM: Alright, now we get to the good part!_

_M: I still think this sucks. Oops. Did I think that out loud?_

_PDM: You're pushing it, Mew. You can be released, you know._


	7. Chapter 7

Screensaver Problems Part 7

_PDM: Okay, little summary here. (Mew is presently spending a little time locked in a Pokeball for trying to delete this story during the break.) Last chapter, Chris and Brock came up with a plan to get Ash and Misty to go to the Ultra Ball, a big party dance thing in Cerulean City. With a little help from Misty's sisters and a little prodding of Ash on Chris/Brock's part, Ash managed to ask Misty to the ball without fainting. She accepted, and now Chris, Brock, and Ash are going out to get Ash a tux, while wondering if they'll be lucky enough to get any dates for the ball._

_M: *projects psychic "voice" from Pokeball* Can I come out yet?_

_PDM: Nope._

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We left the hotel and headed down the street to rent Ash a tux. But on the way back, two female voices hailed us from behind. We all turned around and I had to smash Brock on the head, earning me a sprained wrist, to keep him from going into girl-mode. Two very nice-looking girls stood there- one with long green hair in two ponytails and one with even brown hair to her shoulders.

"Duplica!" Ash cried at the same time Brock shouted "Suzie!"

"Hey, Ashy boy!" the green-haired girl, apparently Duplica, said. (Pokedex Info: Duplica is a girl who runs an Imitation House with a Ditto as her pokemon.)

"Hello, Brock." the brown-haired girl, Suzie, said. (Pokedex Info: Suzie is a famous pokemon breeder, and also the only girl that Brock keeps himself from drooling over due to the fact that he respects her too much to. Brock still loves her madly, though.)

"I recognize both of you from TV!" I said.

"So who are you?" Suzie asked.

"I'm Chris. I just started out as a trainer and I have a Boulderbadge so far. I'm traveling with Ash, Brock, and Misty for now."

"Chris, huh?" Duplica asked.

"So what are you guys doing here?" Ash asked.

"Well, Suzie and I are here for the Ultra Ball, but both of our dates ran off when a pretty girl walked by. Clods." Duplica said.

"Why would they leave when they had two obviously beautiful girls as dates?" I asked.

"Flatterer!" Duplica giggled.

"So what are you doing with a tux?" Suzie asked.

"It's for Ash. He has a date." Brock explained.

"Who?" Duplica asked.

"Not Misty!" Suzie gasped.

"Yes, Misty." I replied.

"You go, Ashy boy!" Duplica cheered.

"We helped!" Brock said, indignant.

"Wait a minute, Brock! Conference!" I said, then starting to whisper in his ear. "This is the chance of a lifetime! Two awesome available girls, and you know you've always wanted to ask Suzie!"

"Are you suggesting we ask them to the ball?"

"Why not?" I replied.

"Okay, but you do it. You're better with words than I am."

"Fine." I said, ending the discussion. I turned to the two girls who had been waiting patiently this entire time.

"Um... We've been helping Ash and Misty get together, so we've had no time to get dates... What I'm trying to say for Brock and I is... Would you go with me to the Ultra Ball, Duplica?"

"And would you go with me, Suzie?" Brock asked.

"Quite a compliment, boys." Duplica laughed. "Sure, I'll go with you, Chris. You seem like a nice guy."

"Certainly, Brock. I'd be honored to." Suzie said.

"Yes!" we both shouted.

"What hotel are you guys staying in? We don't have any rooms yet." Duplica asked.

"The Cerulean City Poliwag Hostel. It's right down this street. Ask for rooms on the 10th floor." I replied. "And thanks, Duplica!"

"You're sweet. What room is Misty in? We need some girl time before the ball!"

"Room 1067."

"See you soon!" Suzie called as they walked back to the hotel.

"We are so lucky!" I shouted.

"Now what?" Ash asked, having waited patiently through this entire encounter.

"Now we go back and get two more tuxedos." Brock said.

"Gaaaa!"

As we went back to the tux place, Duplica and Suzie were just arriving at the hotel. They checked in and managed to get a room by Misty. They went upstairs, took a look at their rooms, and then knocked on Misty's door.

"One minute!" Misty yelled from behind the door. When she opened it, she got quite a shock. "Duplica! Suzie! What are you guys doing here?"

"We were here for the ball, but our dates dumped us for another girl." Suzie said.

"So how'd you know I was in this room?" Misty asked.

"We met Ash, Brock, and that new kid Chris on the street. We have a room next to yours now." Suzie said.

"And Brock and Chris asked us to the ball!" Duplica practically squealed.

"Why don't you guys come in?" Misty asked.

"Sure!"

So they all went in and sat down. Duplica started right off with an important question.

"I hear that Ash asked you to the ball and you said yes. Does that mean you like him?"

"No! I only owe him for something!"

"Mmm-hmmm..." Suzie said.

"I don't think so." Duplica added.

"Really! We're just good friends!"

Duplica and Suzie gave her equally matched disbelieving looks. Misty finally cracked.

"Fine, fine, fine. Don't broadcast it, but yes, I do like him."

"Who wouldn't? He's cute! But he's yours, sadly." Duplica laughed.

"Hey!"

"Don't worry. I have that cute Chris for a date already anyway."

"And Brock's going with you, Suzie?"

"Yes. I get the feeling he's always wanted to."

"What are we doing standing around here talking? The ball is in two days! We've gotta go shopping!" Duplica cried.

"Duplica, it's 6:30 PM."

"Oh. We absolutely HAVE to go shopping tomorrow, then!"

"Fine, but when the boys get back, it'd be smart to go get dinner." Suzie said.

"Good idea."

"Yeah, then I can find more out about Chris!"

So the girls made a promise to shop till they dropped tomorrow then went to our room. We were already in there getting our collective butts kicked at Pokemon cards by Pikachu and Kadabra.

"Hey, guys, wanna go get some dinner together?"

"Sure! Anything's better than this!" I said, throwing my cards down in disgust.

"I still say Kadabra was cheating." Ash said.

"Kadabra dabra kad!"

"Guys, calm down. It's just a game." Suzie said.

"Yeah, but they've already won half of our stuff!" Ash said.

"Pika pi."

"Can we just go eat?" Misty asked.

"Fine."

We went downstairs to the hotel restaurant and sat down at one of the big tables. The seating arrangements were as goes: Ash, Brock, Suzie, me, Duplica, and Misty in that order. We ordered our food, and then settled down to conversation. Brock and Suzie were talking about breeder techniques, and Ash and Misty weren't fighting, for once, but they were talking in low tones about some battle. It wasn't important, anyway. Not when the gorgeous girl at my left was deep in conversation with me.

"So, tell me a little more about why you're traveling with this threesome." Duplica asked me.

"Um, I was just out of Viridian for the first night with Abra, and the next morning, I literally stumbled onto their camp. Then I realized I could profit and learn from spending some time with them. So I decided to join."

"Cool. I take it you like photography?"

"Definitely. It's one of my favorite things to do besides catch psychic Pokemon and battle. So who's watching the Imitay House?"

"Ditto is."

"Oh. So what's your story?"

"Not much. I always wanted to be an imitation artist, so when I started with a Ditto, I opened the Imitay House. But Ditto couldn't perfect its Transform, so I had to close. Then after an encounter with Team Rocket stealing Ditto, it finally got Transform perfect, and ever since then I've been performing at the Imitay House." (Pokedex Info: A Ditto is a Pokemon that in its natural form resembles a pinkish-purple blob, but its only attack is the ability to transform into anything.)

"Nice."

Just then our food arrived. Digging in, I continued the conversation.

"I never knew it would be like this when I met up with the others."

"What do you mean?"

"A few things. One, I never thought such a beautiful girl ever existed."

Duplica blushed. "Thanks. You're sweet."

"Second, I never knew I would be playing matchmaker with Ash and-- oops!"

"It's okay. I know about it already."

"Misty told you?"

"Duh."

"So anyway, it's been fun and completely insane at the same time."

"Wow. Pretty nice story."

"Yeah. I hope that you didn't mind I asked you to the ball when I didn't even know you that well."

"Nah, it was no problem. I'm glad you did!"

Then the meal was finished and we decided to have a round of Pokemon cards before going to bed. Kadabra won, of course, even though Ash kept insisting Kadabra was reading our minds to know what cards we had. That night, I slept easily with many good dreams.

The next morning, the girls were gone shopping when we woke up. We had a small breakfast and decided to find out just what was happening at the Ultra Ball. We walked across town to find that it was right next to the gym. When we entered the building, we saw many workers getting the place set up while an older man with white hair watched. Ash saw him when we walked in and hailed him.

"Hey, Professor Oak!"

The man turned around to see where the yell had come from. "Ash! How are you?"

"Fine! What are you doing in town?"

"I'm in charge of the Ultra Ball."

"Really?"

"Yes. I know that's Brock, but who's your new friend with the computer and camera?"

"I'm Chris. And you would be the famous Professor Oak of Pallet?"

"Guilty as charged."

"Cool!"

"Are you all coming to the Ultra Ball?"

"Yes, sir!"

"You have dates, I assume?'

"Correct."

"Interesting... I wonder who they are. I'll have to wait till tomorrow to find out, I guess."

"You certainly will!" I said.

"See you tomorrow, Professor Oak!"

We left, but when we were out of the building, something occurred to me.

"Darn! We never did find out what was happening at the Ultra Ball, Ash!"

"Guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow." Ash sighed.

"Oh, well. At least we have all of today free. What do you guys want to do?" Brock asked.

"Well, I think we should all try to practice a little 'charm' for tomorrow, since I will unashamedly say that we all need it!" Ash said.

"Yeah, I guess. But don't forget, I want to be taking some pictures, too! And I also think we should do some Pokemon training while we can. You never know when we might need it!" I said.

"True, true. Why don't we go train now while it's still light and Chris can take his camera and snap photos while we train?" Brock suggested.

"Smart idea, Brock. Where should we go to train?" I asked.

"How about Nugget Bridge?"

"Where's that?" I asked.

"It's north of Cerulean. There is a perpetual contest going on up there- there are five trainers on the bridge. If you can defeat them all, you'll win a Nugget. (Pokedex Info- A Nugget is a nugget of gold that sells for $5,000.)

"Good plan!"

"Let's go!"

So we went on up to Nugget Bridge and we all trained against the people on the bridge. Ash finally managed to win a Nugget, which we persuaded him to cash in and split the cash with us so we could use it for the dance. I had taken about three rolls' worth of pictures when the sun set and we headed home. When we returned, we got quite a surprise.

"The girls are still shopping?" Ash asked.

"Sheesh. Do they even think about food at all?" Brock wondered.

"Why are you complaining? If they're shopping this long, then that means they're finding the best outfits for the ball, and we'll have the best-looking dates!" I retorted.

"Fine..."

"We should wait for them before we have some dinner." Brock said.

So we waited...and waited... and waited...

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PDM: So, interesting developments. Mew's still locked up in that pokeball- M: NOT FOR LONG! PSYCHIC ATTACK! *Pokeball shatters* M: *floats up into air until face is even with PDM's* So, wanna try and see how much pain I can inflict on you for locking me up? PDM: Uh, I'll pass, thanks. M: No, I insist. MEGA PUNCH ATTACK! 

_PDM: AAA! *runs away* This is what I get for capturing a Mew!_


	8. Chapter 8

Screensaver Problems Part 8

PDM: *runs in* I think he's gaining on me! *runs out* 

M: *floats in* While PDM is running for his wretched life, I'll summarize. Last chapter, Chris and Brock, while walking with Ash to get him a tux, met Suzie and Duplica, two girls. Naturally, they gave in to their hormones and asked them out to the ball. The girls accepted, then went to talk to Misty while the boys went back to their room. Then they all went out to dinner, where Duplica and Chris had a "nice" talk. The next day, the girls went shopping while the boys went to see where the Ultra Ball was going to be. There, they met Professor Oak and found that he was in charge of the Ultra Ball. Then they went and fought some trainers on Nugget Bridge, and finally went back to their room and waited for the girls to come back from shopping, and are still waiting.

PDM: *runs in from same direction and slams into Mew* Ow! Oops...

M: Okay, now you're gonna get it!

PDM: Can't we work this out?

M: NO!

PDM: What if I give you a Poketreat? *holds up a small cracker in the air*

M: OKAY! GIMME THE TREAT! ALL IS FORGIVEN! GIMME GIMME GIMME!

PDM: Fine. *tosses cracker to Mew See? Best way to a Pokemon's heart is through its stomach.

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So we waited and waited and waited until it was 8:00 and we were all near to fainting from the hunger. 

Finally, the girls walked in.

"That was great! We should shop together more often!"

"Yeah, Misty... uh-oh." Duplica said, noticing us on the floor.

"We've... been... waiting... for... you... to... eat... dinner..." Ash moaned.

"You guys didn't have to do that!" Duplica said.

"Let's go somewhere and fast, or we won't have dates for tomorrow!" Suzie said.

The other girls nodded and dragged us out the door to blessed food.

After we had eaten enough to revive ourselves, we started talking about what we had done that day.

"Did you guys buy the whole store or what?" Brock asked.

"BAM!" Suzie floored him with a mallet of her own.

"I didn't know all girls had mallets!" I said.

"Yep. They're standard female issue." Misty said.

"So did you guys get good outfits for tomorrow?" I asked carefully, not wanting to suffer Brock's fate.

"Yeah, actually, we did!" Duplica said.

"Great!"

"So what did you guys do while we were shopping?" Misty asked.

I had to answer that question due to two reasons:

  1. Brock was currently flat on the floor.
  2. Ash was tongue-tied whenever Misty said anything.

"Well, first we went to the Ultra Ball site, and you'll never guess who we saw there!"

"Who, Chris?" Duplica asked.

"Professor Oak! Apparently, he's in charge of the ball planning."

"Cool!"

"Then we all went out to train at the Nugget Bridge and I took a bunch of photos, which I've dropped off. Then we came back here and waited for you."

"Did anyone win a Nugget?" Suzie wanted to know.

"Ash did." Brock said, punctuated with a groan as he pushed himself off the floor.

"Congratulations, Ash!" Misty said.

"Uhh... thanks." Ash said, turning a color roughly resembling a ripe tomato.

"Hmm..." Duplica said to me. "He's really sweet on her, huh?"

"Obviously."

"This should be interesting."

When we finished dinner, we went back to the hotel, bid each other good night, and all went to bed. But Brock, Ash, and I did not go to sleep for a while. We stayed up discussing what to do about the ball tomorrow.

"When should we go?" Brock asked.

"Duh. The ball starts at 5:00, so we should get ready at 4:00, get the girls at 4:30 and be there at 5:00!" I replied.

"But how do we get the girls?" Ash asked.

"Ash, we walk up, knock on their door, wait for them to answer, then ask 'Are you ready to go?' "

"He's clueless, Chris."

"I am not!"

"Yes, you are. Now be quiet and let Brock ask his question."

"Do you think we should bring our Pokemon?"

"Absolutely. We have to."

"Okay, then."

"I have another question, Chris."

"Yes, Ash?"

"How do you dance?"

I looked at Brock. "Ash, you don't know how to dance at all?"

"No."

"Waltz? Conga? Disco? Anything?"

Ash just shook his head.

"We have a long night ahead of us. You teach him, Brock."

"Why me?"

"Because of two reasons: I want to get some sleep, and I have a Kadabra who can give you a splitting headache until you're 50."

"Good point. Good night, Chris."

As I slid into my sleeping bag, I could still hear Brock saying "Now step like this: 1, 2, 1, 2."

"Like this?"

"OWWW!!! I think you broke my foot!"

I chuckled as I drifted off to sleep. The next morning, both Brock and Ash had dark rings under their eyes but looked happy.

"Did he learn?" I asked sleepily.

"He can rival the best now." Brock said.

"Want to see?" Ash asked.

"Uh, I'll pass." I said hurriedly. "We need to make sure we have everything for tonight."

"Tux?"

"Check."

"Tie?"

"Check."

"Pokemon?"

"Check."

"Clean underwear?"

"Huh?"

"Hey, you never know!"

So we went on like that all day, trying to keep busy and not go insane thinking about the ball until that dreaded hour came...

4:00.

When I heard the clocks in the town chiming, I looked up from where I had been playing games on my computer. "Guys, it's 4. Time to get ready."

Ash, Brock, and Pikachu were playing with some Pokemon cards while Kadabra napped.

"Fine, Chris." Brock said. Ash just moaned.

We managed to pull out our tuxedos and put them on with a minimum of curses and ripped seams. Brock put a little more gel into his hair to keep it sticking up while I combed my hair a little and put it into my usual hairstyle. Then we argued with Ash for a few minutes about getting him to lose the hat. We eventually managed to get him to take it off and comb his hair down a little, but we almost despaired when it just stuck back up again. Then I figured Misty might like it that way, so we just had him leave his hair the way it was without the hat. When we finally got all ready, it was 4:25.

"I can't do this!" Ash screamed.

"Of course you can! It's only Misty!" Brock said.

Ash screamed again and grabbed onto the wall.

"Big help, Brock." I said.

Five minutes later, we had gotten him untangled and calmed down. We escorted him to the door and waited a little further down the hall to make sure he didn't bolt. Under our watchful eyes, he knocked on the door and, perspiring violently, waited for his date to answer the door. When he heard footsteps a few moments later, every muscle in his body locked up with fear. But when she opened the door, he found himself melting in the presence of such sheer beauty. She was dressed in a long light blue dress that went down to an inch from the floor. She had her orange hair down, revealing its true length as it brushed her shoulders. She was holding a small blue purse in one hand. She had also put on an aquamarine necklace to finish off the vision of beauty.

Under the eyes of his goddess, Ash almost lost his nerve. But he rallied and stuttered, "A-are you re-ready to go, Misty?"

"Yes, I am, Ash." she said, stepping out the door and slipping her hand into his while she closed the door behind her. Togepi and her other pokemon were at a daycare center for the night. As they walked down the hall, both looking increasingly shy, we gave Ash a thumbs-up before heading for the girls' room next to Misty's.

I knocked on the door and waited. "Suzie, will you get that? I'm not quite ready yet!" we heard Duplica call.

"Sure, Duplica." Suzie said faintly. Then she opened the door and Brock almost fainted. She was a goddess in green. She had a green dress on with a slightly lower neckline, high heels, a small amount of makeup, and a green jeweled hair clip in her hair, which, instead of being in its usual bun, was let down to past her shoulders.

"Hi, guys. Duplica will be ready in a second, Chris. Brock, shall we go?"

"Sure, Suzie!" Brock said while gallantly offering her his arm. She put her arm through his and they walked toward the elevator together.

Shaking my head at Brock's luck, I waited for Duplica.

A few moments later, Duplica herself came to the door. I almost did a Brock-imitated girl-mode drool when I saw her. She had combed out her hair from its usual two long pigtails and had put it into one ponytail down her back. She was also clad in a lavender dress that went down to the floor, complemented by a clip in her hair in the shape of a Ditto. She didn't have anything in the way of jewelry, but when I looked at her then, I figured she really didn't need it.

"Are you ready, Chris? Hello?" Duplica asked, waving her hand in front of my face.

"Oh! Sorry, but I was just admiring your outfit. Guess your shopping yesterday really paid off."

"Thank you! Should we go?"

"Uh, yeah." I said, doing the same move Brock had and offering her my arm. She took it, and we walked off to the Ultra Ball. We were both a little taller than the others, so we caught up to them in a few minutes with our longer stride. That, and the fact that neither of us wanted to go into the ball without friends of the same gender. 

When we caught up to them, Ash and Misty were still holding hands, but Ash seemed to be over his daze slightly and was chatting with Misty while Brock was still looking like the happiest boy on earth with Suzie on his arm.

"Hi, guys!" I called as we caught up. 

"Hello!" Misty called.

"So what do you think the ball's going to be like?" Suzie asked.

"We don't know." Brock mumbled.

"Well, we'll just have to wait and find out, won't we?" I said.

We arrived at the building to find that it had been completely redecorated for the Ultra Ball. 

"Are you ready to go in, Ash?" Misty asked.

"Yeah." Ash said, getting back some of his old shyness.

They walked in and we all followed. But as we went in, the shadows in a nearby alley stirred. A woman dressed all in black whispered, "Operation Vocal is a go." into a walkie-talkie and melted back into the shadows.

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PDM: Ooh, a bit of mystery! Just who is this mysterious woman, and what is Operation Vocal! Keep reading to find out!

_M: Give me another Poketreat or I'll tell all!_

_PDM: *groans and tosses another cracker to Mew* Sometimes I think having a rare psychic pokemon is more trouble than its worth._


	9. Chapter 9

Screensaver Problems Part 9

_PDM: So, in the last chapter..._

_M: MORE POKETREATS!_

_PDM: Just take the box. *throws box at Mew*_

_M: *munch munch*_

_PDM: While my Mew is stuffing its face, the highlights of the last chapter go as follows: They managed to survive until the girls returned and then they went out to dinner. The next day, they got all dressed up and picked up the girls (Ash almost collapsed.) and left for the Ultra Ball. But as they went in, a mysterious woman, unheard by any of them, said something about Operation Vocal and disappeared. What will happen next?_

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When we all went in, a man by the door gave us seating cards. By a coincidence, we were all at the same table, but there were two empty seats. As we all sat down, I wondered who would sit there. The seating arrangements went as follows from left to right around the table: Empty, Empty, Brock, Suzie, Misty, Ash, me, and Duplica. We all sat down and waited for the ball to start. Brock whispered to me as we watched Ash and Misty talking happily, "Nothing can spoil this night except for one thing."

"Well, if it isn't the loser and his girlfriend!" a snotty voice rang out from the entrance.

"And, Brock, that would be the one thing that could spoil it, correct?" I whispered back. Brock was so stunned, all he could do was gape. Ash had whirled at the sound of the familiar voice.

Over by the entrance was a boy that had become familiar to us all. His name was Gary Oak. (Pokedex Info: Gary was Ash's friend all through their childhood, but once they both received their pokemon, they became bitter rivals. They have not battled yet. Gary is also Professor Oak's grandson.)

"Please don't let him sit here!" I muttered to myself.

But as fate would have it, Gary and his date, apparently one of his cheerleaders, walked over to our table and sat down in the two unoccupied chairs. Ash was about to explode.

I put my hand on his shoulder and whispered "Relax..." to him, although I figured that now the evening was pretty much ruined.

"So, Ash, what is a loser like you doing at one of these?" Gary sneered. "And who would be your date?" he snickered, obviously not realizing Misty was with him.

Ash was about to blow up at Gary, which would invariably get us kicked out, when Misty put her hand on his below the tabletop. It was a small thing, but it was enough to shut Ash up. 

"Gary, he's with me." Misty said.

"And who are you? You know, it's not smart to hang out with losers like Ash. It might rub off on you!" Gary chortled, not recognizing her.

Misty got that old look in her eyes that appeared whenever something pissed her off big time. (I'm talking one of those fire effects!) "Gary, would you go outside with me for a second?" she asked, affecting a flirtatious-girl tone that must have practically killed her to use.

"Sure!" Gary said, sneering at Ash. They both walked outside together, but I noticed that she took her purse with her. As they walked out the door, a bit of speech floated back to us from Gary. "So what's your name anyway?"

Then they went outside. We then heard someone scream, "MY NAME IS MISTY!" punctuated by a loud sound resembling a mallet hitting human flesh several times and followed by the sound of something hitting the floor. Misty came back inside alone, tucking something back into her purse. She smiled at us all, said, "Gary shouldn't give us any more trouble." and sat back down. Gary came staggering back inside with several bruises and two black eyes. He almost missed the chair when he sat down. He looked at Misty and Ash with a mixture of fear, anger, and grudging respect. But he refrained from making any comments, and his date looked almost ready to fall on her knees and give thanks. I smiled, whispering to Ash, "Your date has a good way of teaching people a lesson." He looked at me and nodded, smiling.

Just then, someone stepped up to a speakers' podium on the stage and tapped the microphone a few times, creating a terrible squeal that deafened everyone for a moment.

"Um, hello, everybody. Welcome to the Ultra Ball!" the man said, his speech being punctuated by another squeal that had everyone covering his or her ears.

"Who is that?" someone said audibly.

"My name is Seymour, the scientist from Mount Moon that studies Clefairy. I'm the speaker for tonight's Ultra Ball. Tonight's entertainment will start out with a lecture from the Pokemon expert, Professor Oak."

A wave of applause and wild cheering punctuated this announcement.

"Afterwards, there will be a completely optional Pokemon tournament."

This announcement was followed by a contrast of moans and groans. "I didn't bring my Pokemon..." someone said over at the next table.

"Now, now, we realize that some of you may have chosen to leave your Pokemon at the Pokecenter for the night, so we have asked Nurse Joy to come to the party and set up a transfer machine by the row of PC's over there, so you can get your pokemon easily! After the tournament is finished, dinner will be served, followed by the dance. We will have several singers for the songs. After that, the Ball will be over."

He stepped down and beckoned offstage. Professor Oak then stepped up to the podium. The second he began talking, all of the trainers present listened intently and silently.

Time passes...

"And, trainers, that is all you really need to know to be strong when battling." Professor Oak said, stepping down from the podium amid applause. 

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the Pokemon tournament!" Seymour said while walking back to the podium. There was a mad rush for the computers at the side of the room- apparently many trainers had not brought their pokemon. 

At our table, we discussed for a few seconds and decided that Ash, Suzie, Brock, and I would battle- neither Misty nor Duplica really wanted to participate and Gary's head was still spinning, so obviously he didn't battle. So we got our Pokemon together (Suzie had to go get hers) and registered for the tournament. Most of the trainers had decided to take part due to the fact that after Professor Oak's speech, they all thought they had figured out a secret nobody else knew.

The tournament was a one-pokemon-only tournament, meaning that each trainer picked one pokemon and used it for the entire tournament. It was healed between battles to keep it fair, though. The tournament was also the 2-way style, meaning that there were two branches leading up to a winner for each branch, with the winner from each of the two branches battling each other. Brock, Suzie, and I were on one branch and Ash was on the other by himself. Due to all of our training, we all progressed very quickly up the ranks until Ash was the winner on one side and Brock and Suzie were about to battle on the other side.

"Suzie, I hope you understand that if I win, I don't want this to ruin our relationship!" said Brock.

"It'll be okay, Brock! You won't have to worry about that, because I'm going to win!" retorted Suzie. "Go, Vulpix!" The pokeball she threw out opened, releasing a Vulpix. (Pokedex Info: A Vulpix is a "Fire Fox" with three tails. As it grows, the tails split and grow longer. It can use powerful fire-type attacks, and is also coveted for its beauty.)

"Go, Vulpix!" cried Brock. His pokeball released a Vulpix, too.

"Well! This should be interesting. These guys have a little background, don't they?" I muttered. (Pokedex Info: Suzie gave Brock her Vulpix when they first met, and apparently has caught another.)

"I hope you've been training your new Vulpix, Suzie!" Brock called. "Flame Wheel!" Vulpix blew out a stream of flame that formed into a wheel shape and moved toward Suzie's Vulpix.

"I certainly have, Brock! I've got a few surprises, too!" Suzie smiled. "Vulpix, Water Gun!" Her Vulpix immediately squirted a stream of water out of its mouth, stopping the Flame Wheel and drenching Brock's Vulpix. He attempted to recover, but the battle was over with that one attack. His Vulpix keeled over in a faint.

"Vulpix, return!" Brock said, returning his pokemon to its ball. "That was a great battle."

"It pays to have a trump card." Suzie smiled. "Now you can cheer me on!"

Brock went and sat down as I came out as the next challenger. Whoever won this one would go to battle Ash.

I waited while Suzie sprayed a Potion on her Vulpix to heal it. When she was done, I tossed out my Pokeball. "Go, Kadabra!" I had opted to use my most powerful pokemon for this battle.

"Hmm. A Kadabra. Vulpix, use Fire Spin!" Suzie called.

"Kadabra, dodge it with Teleport!"

Vulpix spewed forth a pillar of flame that moved toward Kadabra, but he teleported out of the way.

"Vulpix, now use Swift!"

"Kadabra, try dodging it with Teleport again!"

Vulpix launched several star-shaped projectiles from its tail toward Kadabra. Kadabra teleported away, but, suddenly, the star-shaped projectiles turned and sped toward Kadabra's new location! They hit him hard. It was obvious that Kadabra was in a lot of pain.

"Kadabra, return!" I called, recalling Kadabra into its pokeball and ending the match.

"Vulpix, return, too!" Suzie called, recalling her Vulpix as well. "You're obviously a very good trainer. Lesser trainers would've forced their pokemon to continue battling, but you understood that your pokemon couldn't continue and forfeited. I congratulate you."

"Thank you. Good luck against Ash!" I said, heading for the healing machine to get Kadabra fixed up.

Ash stepped onto the field and registered slight surprise at seeing whom his opponent was. "Suzie?"

"Yep. Ready to lose?"

"Maybe not! Go, Pikachu!" Ash's Pikachu ran out onto the field.

"Go, Vulpix!" Suzie called, releasing her newly healed Vulpix. The final battle had begun!

"Pikachu, use Quick Attack!"

"Vulpix, Leer!"

Pikachu sped toward Vulpix, but Vulpix's Leer stopped Pikachu right in its tracks.

"Pikachu, quick, Thunderbolt!"

"Vulpix, counter with Flamethrower!"

Vulpix spewed out a stream of flames, but Pikachu released a stream of electric energy that neutralized them and zapped Vulpix.

"Vulpix!"

"Good! Pikachu, use Agility!"

Pikachu sped up until he could only be seen as a yellow blur. He ran circles around Vulpix, while Vulpix got _very_ dizzy.

"Vulpix! Use Fire Blast!"

"Pikachu, use Thunder!"

The two pokemon's most powerful attacks met in the center of the ring and created a giant explosion. Everyone shielded his or her eyes from the blast. When the smoke cleared, Pikachu was still standing, and Vulpix was sprawled on the ground in a faint.

For a second, everything was still while everyone tried to comprehend what had just happened. Then...

"Yeah!" Ash shouted, pumping his fist into the air. This seemed to act as a catalyst for the crowd, who started shouting and cheering. I think Misty was cheering the loudest of all.

"Vulpix, you did well." Suzie said, recalling her Vulpix. Then she came over to shake Ash's hand. "Congratulations, Ash. You trained your Pikachu well."

"Well, your Vulpix put up a really good fight, Suzie."

Just then, Misty, Duplica, Brock, and I ran onto the field. "Congratulations, Ash!" I yelled.

Misty was a little more straightforward, just hugging Ash like heck. I smiled, watching Ash turn slightly red, then relax. A few people _aw_ed in the crowd.

Then Seymour came back up on the microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! The winners of the Ultra Ball Pokemon Tournament are Ash Ketchum and Pikachu!" The crowd cheered again as Misty finally let go of Ash and smiled at him. Ash grinned right back.

Duplica leaned over and whispered to me, "Wow. I never knew she liked him enough to do _that_ in front of everybody!"

I smiled and whispered back, "Love conquers all."

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PDM: *sobbing* 

_M: What's the matter? *munch munch*_

_PDM: That was so beautiful! I can't believe I wrote that!_

_M: Yeah, it wasn't that bad. Maybe now people will actually want to keep reading._

_PDM: Yeah, I hope so. The best part is coming up!_


	10. Chapter 10

Screensaver Problems Part 10

_PDM: Okay, I've stopped crying now. I'll summarize: Last chapter, the gang finally got to the Ultra Ball, only to find that Gary was there, too. But Misty managed to make sure he didn't bother them anymore, and then the Pokemon tournament started. Suzie beat Brock and Chris, only to be defeated by Ash, who became the winner of the tournament. Then Misty gave him a big hug in front of everybody. It brought me to tears. But who knows what will happen in this chapter? We never did figure out just what "Operation Vocal" was..._

_M: *munch munch* Wait a sec! There's no more Poketreats in this box!_

_PDM: Uh-oh... Mew, I don't have any more._

_M: WHAT? I MUST HAVE MY POKETREATS!_

_PDM: Ju-just calm down, Mew... This is getting kind of old..._

_M: I guess you're right. This time, I won't chase you around._

_PDM: Whew._

_M: But I will Mega Punch you for a little while._

_PDM: Oh, come on! Here we go again! *runs off*_

_M: Ha. I fooled him. I had another box of Poketreats right here. *munch munch*_

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The speakers blared out again as Seymour said, "Okay! Now it's time for dinner, everybody! Will everyone please go back to their seats at the tables?"

We all headed back, Ash and Misty holding hands and the rest of us looking interestedly at them.

"I wonder how all of a sudden they're so comfortable together." Brock muttered.

"I guess a hug does a lot. But Misty still hasn't told Ash her true feelings, remember." Suzie whispered.

"And Ash still hasn't done the same yet." I added quietly.

We all sat down at the table and immediately received a rude reminder that Gary was up and around again.

"Hmph! If SOMEONE hadn't smashed me with a mallet, there might have been a more DESERVING champion!" Gary sneered from across the table.

Ash was about to jump on him, but I got there first. I tapped him on the shoulder and said very calmly, "Will you please step outside with me?"

"And what if I refuse?"

"Need I remind you that there is an extremely pissed-off Pikachu ready to zap you into next week?"

"Okay, I'm coming already!"

Outside, I let Kadabra out of his pokeball and leaned in close to Gary. "Now you listen closely, you jerk. This is an important night for everyone, and _you_ are NOT going to ruin it."

"So what if I do?"

"This Kadabra right here is about ready to bounce you off a few walls. Or perhaps your grandfather would like to hear about this. I've heard he could revoke your trainers' license. One toe out of line, and..."

"I get your point." Gary gulped.

"Now shall we go back inside?" I asked, recalling Kadabra.

When we were back inside and sitting down, Seymour announced dinner, and we got served a full-course meal. Throughout the meal, Ash and Misty wouldn't stop talking and laughing together, and I kept an eye on Gary for Ash. He seemed pretty cowed by what I had said to him, though.

After we finished eating, Seymour stepped up to the stage and announced, "The dance will now begin. We've hired several bands for this occasion. Please welcome the first band, 'The Classical Staryus!'" A group of musicians came out on the stage and started playing some dance music. People started drifting out to the dance floor.

"Duplica, may I have this dance?" I asked.

"Of course! Let's dance!" she replied, almost dragging me out to the dance floor. A few moments later, Brock and Suzie joined us. We then waited for a second to watch Ash and Misty.

"Um, Misty..." Ash stuttered, a little of his old nervousness coming back to him.

"Yes, Ash?" Misty replied softly.

"Would you like to dance?"

"I'd love to, Ash."

They linked hands and moved out to the dance floor. Then they started to slow dance. I smiled as I saw how great the two of them were together. Ash had actually remembered his dance lessons.

Then the band finished its song, and amid applause, left the stage. Seymour came back on and said, "Our next band is a singer duet! Please welcome 'Rocket Power!'" A man with green hair and an orange-haired woman dressed in black came out on stage, their faces hidden. They stepped up to two microphones, and some odd music began to play in the background.

"What's this?" Duplica wondered. "I've never heard of these guys before."

"Something's not right here." I said.

On stage, the woman made a signal with her hand and suddenly, they ripped off their black clothes to reveal black outfits with a big red R on the chest!

Then they both began to sing. 

"We are Team Rocket, and we fight for what is wrong!

We got bored with our motto, so we thought we'd try a song!

This ball was too good a chance to pass up,

We readied this plan while you all drank from your cup!

Now we're gonna steal all your Pokemon,

And when you wake up, they'll be all gone!

Cassidy!

Butch!

We're Team Rocket, circling the earth day and night!

We're Team Rocket, stealing your Pokemon, that's right!"

However, we weren't able to hear most of their horrible rhyming, because when they started singing, some sort of amplifier device was turned on, and the man had a _horrible_ voice! It was so bad that several people were collapsing, and I was feeling like my ears were going to start bleeding. But then I looked over at some of the Pokemon back at the tables, and I saw that the horrible music had had an even worse effect on them- they were all knocked out, every single one! Then the man held one note, and it was too much for me. I fell to the ground, and everything went black.

A few minutes later, the two Team Rocket members stopped singing. There was no reason to- everyone had been knocked out! Then the man pushed a button, and men dressed in black poured in from behind the stage. They then started taking all the Pokeballs and Pokemon they could find.

The woman, Cassidy, laughed evilly. "Butch, Operation Vocal was a success! Now we'll finally be able to show the Boss all these wonderful Pokemon!"

Butch simply nodded.

Two of the Team Rocket members that were taking all the pokeballs stopped for a second and looked at Misty.

"Hey, ain't that Misty Waterflower?"

"Who?"

"Idiot! She's the gym leaders' sister!"

"Ya think she'd be good for ransom?"

"Yeah! And if not for ransom, for other things, too!" They laughed evilly and picked up Misty. Then they took her out to a waiting truck filled with all the trainers' pokemon.

"Hurry up, you idiots! Those brats are going to wake up any minute!" Cassidy called.

They put Misty in a small cage, same as most of the other pokemon, and then the truck drove away.

A few moments later, Ash woke up. "Ohh, my head... Hey! What's going on?" He ran around waking up everyone, and soon, everyone was back up, with a major headache.

A trainer was the first to notice. "Hey, where's my Kingler?"

"Hey, my pokeballs are gone!"

"Oh, no! Where's Mankey?"

I looked down at my belt, fearing the worst. Sure enough, my two pokemon were gone. I looked up and saw everyone screaming for his or her pokemon.

Professor Oak stumbled up onto the stage and called out, "Please don't panic, everyone. The police have been called, and they will be here shortly. Until then, there's nothing we can do."

Ash ran up to me in a panic. "Chris, have you seen Misty?"

"Um... no."

"I can't find her anywhere! I think she got kidnapped!"

"WHAT? That can't be! That's a new low, even for Team Rocket!"

"What are we going to do?"

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PDM: So, another frightening development. What will happen to Misty? Will Ash get her back? 

_M: You know, I gotta say that this story is actually getting better._

_PDM: Thanks a lot!_

_M: So keep writing! I want to see what happens next!_


	11. Chapter 11

Screensaver Problems Part 11

_PDM: Okay, last chapter Chris and the rest had dinner, and then the dance started. Ash and Misty had just started to dance when Cassidy and Butch, disguised as a singing duo, knocked everyone out and stole all their pokemon, and kidnapped Misty, too!_

_M: Yeah, and who knows what will happen next?_

_PDM: So, keep reading to see!_

_M: Must I? Can't you just tell me?_

_PDM: Nope. Read._

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"Uuh... My head hurts..." Misty moaned. "Hey! Where am I?" She was locked in a cell. "Let me out of here!"

An evil laugh came from outside the door. A guard leered at her through the bars. "Not a chance, my pretty. We'll keep you here until your sisters pay up, or else..." The guard laughed again and turned away.

"Oh, no!" Misty collapsed to the floor of the cell. "Ash, where are you? Help me!"

A little ways away, Ash was trying to do just that. "Officer, you have to find her!"

"Calm down, Ash. We're doing everything we can, but there's just no leads." Officer Jenny said.

Ash groaned and sat down in one of the chairs. I sat down next to him. Brock sat down on the other side. Duplica and Suzie pulled up two more chairs and sat down, too. "What am I going to do? I've got to do something!"

"Ash, what can you do?" I asked. "Like Officer Jenny said, there's just no clues."

But then the police station videophone rang. Officer Jenny rushed over and answered it, bringing up a picture of Misty's three sisters.

"Like, Officer Jenny, look at this!"

"We just got a phone call from somebody!"

"And they say they have Misty!"

We all heard this last sentence and rushed over to the phone.

"We recorded it, so we'll show you the message again."

Then a tape started to play. It showed a man sitting in a chair with a light behind him that shadowed his face. "Hello. I assume I am speaking to the Waterflower sisters. You may be wondering just what has happened to your youngest sister. I have her right here."

Then the view moved to show Misty tied to a chair and gagged. The look in her eyes was one of fear and anger. Then the view moved back to the man again.

"We will release her if we are given precisely one million Pokedollars by tomorrow. I will have a man waiting out on Nugget Bridge at precisely 12:00 tomorrow night. If you are not there by 12:15 with the money, the man will send an order, and at 12:30 precisely, your sister will be injected with one of our best slow poisons. There is no antidote." The man grinned. "And in case you have any bright ideas about trying to catch or trick my man on Nugget Bridge tomorrow night," he continued, "You won't have much luck. He's been handpicked from our best agents. Also, if we don't get a signal from him every five minutes, the poisoning will happen precisely five minutes after the first missed signal. Thank you, and remember, one million Pokedollars by 12:00 tomorrow night."

The screen went blank, to be replaced by Misty's sisters. 

"So, like, what can we do?"

"Well, I don't know how we're going to get that million dollars by tomorrow." Officer Jenny said.

"Officer Jenny, I have 500,000 Pokedollars." Ash said.

"What?" everyone gasped.

"I was saving up to buy Misty a new bike. But this is far more important. Without the money, Misty won't be around to get a bike for."

"That's great, Ash, but the only problem is that this is Team Rocket. They're more likely to just take the million dollars and poison Misty anyway. And besides, I can't let you pay that money to Team Rocket."

"What?" Ash cried.

"It's against every law to go along with Team Rocket. And, anyway, if you help us, I'm sure we can find their hideout by 12:00 tomorrow. And I'll loan you all some pokemon to help defend yourself. After all, you'll be helping us, I gather."

"I speak for all of us when I say, Definitely!" Ash said.

"Yeah!" I shouted.

"Okay, we have some extra pokemon donated by the Pokecenter for all of you to borrow. There's only going to be one per person, though, so be careful." Officer Jenny said, handing out some pokeballs.

Ash got a Rhyhorn, Brock got a Bulbasaur, Suzie got a Charmander, I got a Marill, and Duplica got an Eevee. Then we all headed back to the Ultra Ball to help look for clues. When we got there, we looked around for a little while. But we couldn't find anything. 

"It's hopeless." Brock moaned. "If the Cerulean City police force couldn't find anything, what are the chances of us finding a clue?"

"We still have to try!" Ash said. "We all know we can't let Misty be poisoned. So let's keep looking!"

Just then, Duplica got an idea. "Hey, Chris, you got a Marill, right?"

"Yeah. So?"

"Aren't Marills known for being able to find people by sound?"

"You know, you might be right. It's worth a try, at least." I said, calling out Marill.

"Marill mar!"

"Okay, Marill, listen for this voice." I said, playing a tape of Misty's voice that Duplica had produced from somewhere.

Marrill stood stock-still and twitched its ears for almost five minutes. Then...

"Marill mar marill!"

"You found her? Great! Let's go!"

Then we ran off, following Marill.

- 1:00 in the morning. 23 hours remain. -

Marill had led us to the outskirts of the town. He jumped into a river that was running past and waited.

"So Misty is down that river?" I asked.

"Marril!" he said, nodding.

"Well, we have to figure out how to get down there." Brock said.

"Why not swim it?" Ash asked.

"Ash, that water's way too fast and rough to swim." Suzie replied.

"We gotta think quick, guys! We only have like 23 hours left!" I said.

"I wish we had Ash's Lapras now." Brock mumbled. (Pokedex Info: A Lapras is a large aquatic Pokemon that can carry a small number of people on its back. Ash had one, but he had to let it rejoin its herd.)

"THAT'S IT!" I shouted.

"Huh?" everyone shouted, jumping.

"All we have to do is head down to the Pokecenter and ask for a good water pokemon to use!"

"Let's hurry!" Duplica cried.

I recalled Marill and we rushed off.

- 2:00 in the morning. 22 hours remain. -

We arrived at the Pokecenter only to find that Nurse Joy had gone home for the night. It was still open for trainers to use if they needed someplace to sleep, though.

"Now what do we do?" Ash asked.

"Sleep." Brock yawned.

"Huh?"

"Actually, he has a point. We'll never be able to help Misty like we are now. We've gotta rest." I said.

"But what about Misty? Who knows what they're doing to her?"

"Nothing." Suzie yawned. "They need her intact for the ransom."

"Fine. I guess we can rest... But we had better be awake at 6:00!"

"That's fine with me." Duplica said.

So we went inside and lay down on the couches. Duplica and I had to share one, because there weren't enough. So we went to sleep with her head on my stomach.

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_PDM: Awww... So cute!_

_M: Hey! Ain't this supposed to be an AAMRN? These readers don't want a CADRN! (That's Chris and Duplica Romance Novel, folks!)_

_PDM: So sue me. I like to dream._


	12. Chapter 12

Screensaver Problems Part 12

_PDM: Okay, last chapter, Misty woke up to find herself in a prison cell, while Ash and co. searched for her. They found a trail by a stream, but when they went back to the Pokecenter to find a water pokemon, it was closed, so they used the time to take a rest. Chris and Duplica had to share a couch! :)_

_M: Sheesh. Do you think you could at least try to keep it an AAMRN?_

PDM: Not a chance. I lead a rich fantasy life.

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- 12:00 in the afternoon. 12 hours remain. -

Brock woke up, yawning. "What time is it?"

"Looks like we overslept!" Suzie said, sitting up.

"Better wake the others."

"You wake Ash. This isn't going to be pretty."

So Suzie walked over to wake up Duplica and me, while Brock went and shook Ash.

"Wha- what time is it?" I moaned.

"You're the one wearing a watch!" Duplica retorted.

"Oh, right." I looked at my watch. "What? That can't be right. This says it's 12:00!"

"12:00! WHAT?" Ash shouted from his couch where Brock had awakened him.

"I guess that's what happens when we stay out as late as we did and have as much stress as we did." Suzie said, shrugging.

"WE GOTTA HURRY!" Ash shouted.

"You're right! Let's go find Nurse Joy!" I said.

We found Nurse Joy in the back room, and when we explained our problem to her, she said she'd go back and get us a Lapras. "But you guys have to eat first! You look famished!"

"Ash, don't even start." I said, looking over at him. "We're all concerned about Misty, but the fact stands that we have to be strong when we go look for her."

Ash looked about ready to explode when his stomach rumbled. He laughed sheepishly. "Uh, yeah. Heh-heh."

So we had a breakfast (or was it lunch?) of stew while Nurse Joy found a Lapras. One hour later, we were all finished and heading out the door with a Lapras in its pokeball.

- 2:00 in the afternoon. 10 hours remain. -

We finally arrived at the river. Ash called out the Lapras, I called out Marill, and we set off on Lapras' back, following Marill in the water. It was a long trip, and I snapped a few pictures while we sailed on Lapras' back.

- 4:00 in the afternoon. 8 hours remain. -

We had been sailing for quite a while, almost two hours, and everyone was getting bored.But suddenly, Marill stopped, and we almost crashed into him. He was twitching his little ears like crazy, and we watched him. Finally, he jumped out of the water and gestured excitedly.

We got off Lapras and recalled him. Then we followed Marill, who ran off. Eventually, we came to a mountain. There was a small tunnel going through it. Marill ran up to the entrance of the tunnel and squeaked "Marill mar!"

I recalled him, and we started walking through the tunnel, knowing we were getting closer to Misty. It started getting darker in the tunnel as we walked, and soon it was pitch-black. Suddenly, a light blazed on in front of us. It was a Team Rocket guard! He blinked in shock at the sight of us, and then yelled for help.

We could do nothing as we were surrounded, although I saw Ash quickly do something to his hair.

They dragged us off, taking our pokeballs. As we were dragged deeper into the tunnel, one of the Rockets snickered, "Guess your rescue attempt failed!"

- 6:00 in the evening. 6 hours remain. -

We had been thrown into a prison cell and a guard had been posted in front of our door. It was mostly a symbolic gesture, though, because we had no way of getting out. We were all pretty depressed. The deadline of midnight was ticking closer, and we were in an even worse fix than before. But then Ash smiled and gestured us all to move in closer. He put a hand up to his hair and pulled out a pokeball!

"Huh?" I whispered. "Where'd that come from?"

"Right before the Rocket guards dragged us off, I concealed it in my hair. It's Rhyhorn. With him, we can make our escape and go find Misty!" Ash whispered back.

"Good plan! We'll just have to wait till Ugly out there goes to eat." Duplica whispered.

So we decided to wait a little while and see if he left.

- 8:00 at night. 4 hours remain. -

The guard finally left. I looked at my watch and reminded everyone that we only had 4 hours left. Then Ash called Rhyhorn out and commanded him to smash the door down. Rhyhorn obeyed immediately, knocking down the door and part of the wall with it. Then Ash returned Rhyhorn to his pokeball and we started running, trying to find where Misty was. We knew we only had a little time, because when the guard returned, he'd notice our escape and sound the alarm.

"How the heck are we supposed to find anything in here?" panted Brock.

"I have no idea." I replied.

Then we rounded a corner and stopped dead. Two Rockets were walking right in front of us, and we had almost collided with them. Luckily, their backs were turned to us, so we managed to all scramble out of sight before they saw us. As they walked past, we were able to hear what they were saying.

"So the girl's gonna be poisoned at 12:30 tonight?"

"Yep."

"What if they come up with the money?"

"What do you think, stupid?"

"They'll release the girl?"

"Uh, NO! They'll just poison her anyway! That way people will know to not mess with Team Rocket!"

"Oh, yeah! Sounds good!"

They walked off further down the hall and turned a corner, still talking. We just sat there in shock for a few minutes, appalled at what we had heard.

"Okay, that settles it. We've GOTTA find Misty fast!" Ash whispered.

So, again, we ran off, hoping to find where she was being kept, somehow. We rounded yet another completely identical corner and ran straight into the same two Rockets that had passed us by earlier.

"Wha?"

"Intruders! Sound the alarm!"

"Run, everyone!" Brock shouted.

All the noise had attracted other Rocket members to the area, though, and we couldn't escape. We were surrounded and taken off to a empty room with only one door. They searched us a lot more thoroughly than last time, and managed to find Ash's Rhyhorn. They snickered as they closed the door on us and locked it. Then we heard them setting at least five guards outside. Our last chance had been blown. There was no hope left. Misty was as good as dead.

- 12:00 at night. 30 minutes remain. -

We had been locked in that room for about four hours, and no grand solution had presented itself. Presently, Ash was sitting in a corner with his head in his hands, and everyone else was scattered around the room. I went over and sat down next to him. He looked up, and I could tell he had been crying.

"What's going to happen now, Chris?" he asked of me. "Misty's going to be poisoned in half an hour, and then they'll probably get rid of us, too!"

"Ash, we can't lose hope."

"He's right, Ashy boy." Duplica said, walking over to us. "As long as we have hope, there's still a chance."

Just then, out in the corridor, we heard a muted _bang_ and saw a flash of light through the crack underneath the door. Then the door slowly started to open.

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_PDM:So who is the person opening the door? What will come of this? There are only thirty minutes left!_

_M: You know, I could have sworn I've seen that kind of thing, " - 12:00 in the morning. Thirty minutes remain. -", somewhere else..._

_PDM: *sweatdrops* Uh, no, you didn't!_


	13. Chapter 13

Screensaver Problems Part 13

_PDM: Last chapter, Ash & co. were captured by Team Rocket, broke free, and then were captured again. Now with thirty minutes remaining, something odd is happening just outside the room they're imprisoned in..._

_M: Hey! I figured out where that funky "clock, time remaining" thing came from!_

_PDM: Oh, no..._

_M: It's from that video game, Majora's Mask!_

_PDM: Crap. Well, they never did put a copyright notice on it, did they?_

_M: Well..._

_PDM: Wait! Who's that at the door, Mew?_

_M: Two guys who say they're from Nintendo. They're dressed in black and have weird bulges in their vest pockets._

_PDM: Crap and double crap! Do NOT let them in!_

_M: Uh, too late._

_PDM: Oh, not good at all. I must finish this story first!_

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The door opened to reveal three figures dressed in black outfits and masks- two tall and one oddly short. Then they pulled off their masks to reveal the well-known faces of the Team Rocket trio, Jessie, James, and Meowth!

"Oh, it's Team Rocket." Everyone sighed.

"Sorry, but the rest of your gang beat you to it. I don't have Pikachu anymore." Ash said.

"You twerp! Don't you understand what we're doing here?" Jessie snapped.

"We came to help you!" James added.

"Yeah! When we heard that Giovanni had stooped as low to actually kill a kid, we decided it was Giovanni had stooped as low to actually kill a kid, we decided it was time to leave the team." Meowth put in.

"So we were just leaving when we saw you get captured and tossed in here. So we went and found all your pokemon, and then came back to free you!" Jessie said.

"So, here're your pokemon, all of them!" James said, holding out a bag.

We all ran up and looked in the bag. Inside were all our pokeballs, and Pikachu, too!

"Pikachu!" Ash cried, grabbing him up and hugging him. Then we all got our pokeballs back and ready for action.

"Now can you show us where they have Misty?" Duplica asked.

"We don't exactly know, but we can certainly try!" James said.

So we left the room, stepping over the unconscious guards, and headed off very quickly, with Jessie and James in the lead.

About twenty-five minutes later, we reached the room Jessie said they had Misty in. There were two guards by the door. When they saw us coming, they moved to block the door and started to sound the alarm.

"Wait! These brats are our prisoners! We're taking them in there to watch their friend die!" Jessie called.

"Hmmmm....... I don't believe you!" one of the guards said. "If they were your prisoners, they'd be tied up or something, and aren't you Jessie and James, the two traitors?"

"An intelligent guard. Didn't see that one coming." James muttered.

"Uh, um, uh.... Oh, what the heck. Now!" Jessie shouted.

She and James got out their pokeballs and prepared to battle the two guards. "Get moving, kids! Go save the girl!"

"Right!" We rushed to the door and kicked it open. Inside, a horrifying sight greeted us.

Misty was strapped to a table, and a syringe apparently filled with poison was lowering on a robotic arm toward her arm.

"Misty! No!" Ash shouted, barreling toward the table.

"Ash?" She looked up from the table. "Look out!"

"Huh?"

A guard had been hidden in the shadows next to the door. He grabbed Ash. Ash struggled in his grip as the rest of us ran to help. A few minutes later, the guard was out cold, but it was too late. We had run out of time.

Misty screamed as the needle pierced her skin and injected its deadly fluid into her bloodstream. A few seconds too late, Ash smashed the control board and stopped the arm.

"Misty! Are you okay?" he shouted, running over to the table. The rest of us followed behind.

"Ash... you came for me..."

"Of course, Misty. I couldn't let you die."

Brock carefully pulled the syringe out of the arm and sadly held it up. It was completely empty. The deadly poison was inside Misty.

We were unstrapping her from the table when Jessie, James, and Meowth rushed in.

"We gotta get outa here!" Meowth shouted.

"We know a secret way out that will have us back to Cerulean quickly, but we have to leave NOW, before the other Rockets get us!" Jessie cried.

We nodded, but before we could figure out what to do with Misty, Ash simply lifted her into his arms and said, "Let's go."

Half an hour later, we were on the outskirts of Cerulean. We ran straight to the hospital emergency room, and after Misty was in a hospital bed, Ash stayed with her while we explained everything to the two doctors on duty, Dr. Poke and Dr. Digi.

"Okay, we understand. We'll do everything we can, and we'll keep you posted. But for now, everyone is going to have to wait in the waiting room."

I went into the room to tell Ash. He was sitting by the bed where Misty lay unconscious. He looked like he was crying a little, too. I put my hand on his shoulder gently. "Hey, Ash. The doctors say that we have to go wait in the waiting room."

He turned his tear-stained face up to me. "A-all right, Chris."

So we all waited in the waiting room, the Team Rocket trio included, and prayed for the life of one 13-year-old girl.

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_PDM: Sn-snif.... WAAAA!_

_Man In Black #1: WAAAA_

_Man In Black #2: *sobbing*_

_M: Humans._


	14. Chapter 14

Screensaver Problems Part 14

_PDM: Okay, I think I've stopped crying, and the two Menin Black have left, so what happened last chapter..._

_Jessie and James rescued Ash & co., and then they rushed to save Misty. But they were too late, and Misty was injected with the deadly poison. Now she lies unconscious in a bed at the hospital while everyone else is waiting and praying in the waiting room._

_M: I actually think this is getting pretty good. If we can stay away from any more copyright infringements..._

_PDM: *gulps*_

_M: Then this should turn out to be a great story!_

_PDM: So let's let the nice people read on to see what happens next!_

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During the night, Brock went and called Misty's sisters and Officer Jenny to tell them what had happened. Misty's sisters were down there in a matter of seconds, never mind that it was the middle of the night and their hair looked horrible. Officer Jenny said she would send a team down to where the Rocket HQ was and see if they could find anything. Then most of us went to sleep, being quite tired, but Ash just stayed up, staring at the emergency room door where doctors were working desperately to save Misty's life.

In the morning, Dr. Poke came to see us. "We've given her almost every kind of antivenin there is, and they've had only a minimal effect. The rest is really up to her. She's slipped into a coma, and if she comes out of it, it means her body has destroyed the poison. But if she doesn't come out within 24 hours..." Then he left to go back to the room and see what else he could do to help his partner.

So we had to wait for most of the day, interrupted by nurses bringing food for us, and so on. Brock must have really been worried, because he didn't even try to hit on any of them. We also got a call from Officer Jenny saying that her team, upon arrival to the Rocket base, had found it completely stripped and deserted. They had all run off, and taken everything with them.

As the sun began to set, Brock, Duplica, Suzie, and I all tried to persuade Ash to go to sleep. Finally, it was Suzie saying "If she survives, we won't want you to take her place because of sleep deprivation," and our continued assurances that if there was any news, we'd wake him up right away that got him to go to sleep. Then we all went to sleep ourselves, knowing that if Misty wasn't awake by tomorrow morning, she never would be.

Late at night, Ash woke up. He wasn't sure what had made him wake up. He decided to go see Misty. So, stepping very quietly so as to not wake anyone up, he made his way to Misty's room. Stepping around the slumbering nurse in front of the door, he went into the room and shut the door quietly. He went and sat by Misty's bed and looked at her for a moment. She looked so peaceful, lying there. Ash started crying, thinking of what life would be like without her. He eventually cried himself to sleep, sitting on a chair next to the bed.

He opened his eyes again to find himself floating in a wide expanse of bright nothingness. There seemed to be millions of little zeroes and ones in the far distance.Then he turned to see a boy wearing goggles over a large head of brown hair floating there with a giant creature that looked like an part-robot orange dinosaur floating next to him.

"Huh? Where am I?"

"You are in digital limbo," the boy replied.

"What's that?"

"A place where special feelings take shape."

"And who are you?"

"I am the bearer of Courage. I have been called to help you. You demonstrated great courage many times quite recently, relating to a girl. I believe her name was Misty?"

"Um, yeah." Ash said, blushing slightly.

"And do you know truly deep inside just why you have done all that you did?"

"Um...yes, I do. I do! I love Misty with all my heart and soul, always!"

The boy smiled. "Good. You just showed great courage by saying that." A strange necklace he was wearing started to glow with an orange light. The light got brighter and brighter, and Ash felt himself falling.

"Farewell," the boy's voice echoed. "Remember what you have said here, and awaken!"

Meanwhile, in her slumber, Misty had been dreaming endlessly. Dreams of many things. Disjointed and broken images. Most of them, however, were of Ash. Suddenly, her dreams disappeared, and she found herself floating in the same place Ash had been, although she didn't know that.Then she turned to see a red-haired girl floating there with a giant creature that looked like a man with an eagle's head floating next to her.

"Who are you?" Misty asked.

"The bearer of Love. The reason I have been called to you- Do you know what is happening in the real world now?"

"No."

"You are lying in a coma on a hospital bed. If you do not awaken by the morning, you will not ever wake up."

"B-but how do I wake up?"

"That is what I am here for. You show great love for many people, and one person in particular. Ash, I believe, was his name?"

Misty blushed. "Yes."

"Your love for him shines strongly. His love for you shines just as strongly."

"What? He really does love me, too?"

"Yes. Now the question is, can you return that love wholeheartedly?"

"Yes, of course! I love Ash, forever!"

The girl smiled as an odd necklace she was wearing began to glow with a bright red light. The light got brighter and brighter, and Misty felt herself falling.

"Farewell," the girl's voice echoed. "Remember what you have said here, and awaken now!"

Back in the hospital room, Misty and Ash both awakened at the exact same moment. 

"Huh?" they both said simultaneously.

Each hearing the other's voice, they turned to see the other.

"Ash!"

"Misty! You're all right! Thank goodness!"

"Ash, how long was I out?"

"About a day and a half."

"Were... were you watching over me all this time?"

"Um... yeah."

Misty blushed slightly. "It's nice that you care about me so much."

A voice echoed in Ash's ear. "Have courage, Ash."

"Misty... Please listen to what I have to say."

"Sure."

"I don't just care about you...I love you, Misty, with all my heart!"

Misty felt joy and love beginning to sing in her heart. "Ash, I love you, too!"

"Really?"

"Forever and always."

"Oh, Misty, I'm so glad! I don't know what I'd have done without you!"

"Me neither."

Ash moved over to sit on the bed.

"So, now what should we do, Ash?"

"Hmmm... I have an idea."

He then leaned over and kissed Misty on the lips. Misty's eyes opened wide for a second before she relaxed into the kiss.

About a minute later, they broke for air. "Wow... um, I better go tell the doctors you woke up, and then everyone will want to know that you're all right." Ash said.

"Hurry back, Ash."

Ash kissed her again briefly, and then opened the door and headed for the doctors' office. After he told them, they rushed off to Misty's room while he went to the waiting room. There, he woke up everyone, including Jessie, James, and Meowth.

"What is it?" I asked.

"What's going on?" Duplica said.

"I was having a great dream..." Brock said. We all looked strangely at him. "Oh, not that kind of dream!" he said, sweatdropping.

"Anyway, guys, I have great news! Misty woke up, and she's all right!"

We all cheered. "Can we go see her?" Duplica asked.

"I think so. And besides, we have something else to tell you."

So we got up and headed for Misty's room. I already had some suspicion of just what that "something else" was, though...

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_PDM: All right! Almost finished!_

_M: Uh, one question. Just who were those two guys?_

_PDM: Um... uh... well... Think about my name. What's the second thing I love?_

_M: Umm... PokeDigiManiac... Oh, no!_

_PDM: Yep. You have to admit it made a great plotline!_


	15. Chapter 15

Screensaver Problems Part 15

_PDM: Okay, this story is nearing its close. Last chapter, Misty was in a coma and wasn't expected to recover. But when Ash went into her room in the middle of the night, they both had an interesting dream (Not that kind of dream! You're sick!) and it helped Misty wake up. Then they finally confessed their true feelings for each other, and then shared a first kiss. Then Ash got everyone from the waiting room, and now they're heading for Misty's room..._

_M: And no more copyright violations!_

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When we reached Misty's room, the doctors and a few nurses were already there, checking up on her. Dr. Digi came up to them and said, "It's amazing! She's made a complete recovery! There's nothing wrong with her at all!"

Then they left, leaving all of us alone with Ash and Misty, who was still on the bed. Ash went over to her. "Should we tell them now?" he whispered.

"It seems like a good time and a good idea to."

"Okay."

Then he sat down on the bed and motioned us to come closer. "Misty and I want to tell you guys something. The two of us..."

"Yes?"

"are in love, and very deeply so. We're now officially a couple, and we always will be from now on."

The room was silent for a second as everyone tried to digest this new information. Then the silence was broken by an united cheer.

"I knew it..." I whispered to myself.

Then we all crowded around, congratulating Ash and Misty. Even Jessie and James put in their own two cents. "Congratulations, you two. I guess you'll be happy together." 

"Whaddya know, the two twerps pairing up. Who woulda thunk it?"

Finally, Misty yawned widely. "I guess I still need a little rest."

"Okay. All right, everyone out!" I said. "Back to the waiting room!"

Everyone left, except for Ash.

"Misty, do you mind if I stay in here with you for the rest of the night?"

"I'd like that, Ash."

He lay down on the covers next to her, and within five minutes, the happy couple was fast asleep.

The next morning, I woke up to find Jessie, James, and Meowth gone. I woke up all the others that were in the waiting room, and we found a note taped to the couch.

It read:

Sorry we had to leave so fast, twerps, but the Boss will still be looking for us, so we've gotta keep moving. We'll come look you up someday and see how the happy couple is doing. Bye for now,

Jessie, James and Meowth

We then all went to Misty's room to see how they were doing. When we got there, we saw that they were snuggled up to each other in their sleep, and Ash had his arm around Misty. We didn't want to disturb them, so we went down to the front desk and checked Misty out.

Later that morning, after Ash and Misty had woken up, we went by the police station and found out that before Jessie and James had made good their escape, they had told Officer Jenny just where the Team Rocket backup HQ was, and the cops had found the place and arrested all of the Rockets. They had found all the trainers' pokemon, and more importantly, they had found the secret Rocket poison storehouse and destroyed every single poison there.

Then we finally went back to the hotel and picked up all our stuff, and picked up Misty's pokemon from the Daycare center.

Then Suzie and Brock went off alone for a little time, while the rest of us bid goodbye to Duplica, who was leaving for the Imitay House. 

"Duplica, do you really have to go?" Misty asked.

"Yeah, I do. I gotta go take care of the Imitay House. Sorry, Chris."

"That's all right, Duplica, I guess."

"You know, Chris, I really like you." Then she kissed me. While I was stunned temporarily, she said, "Come visit the Imitay House sometime and look me up! I'll be waiting!"

Then she walked off, waving goodbye.

Later, Brock and Suzie came back with great news. Suzie had decided to travel with us, and she and Brock were now also a couple. I was a little jealous, to say the least.

A few days later, we were on the road to the next city when my laptop started beeping insistently. Everyone stopped, and I opened it up. On the screen, there was a message:

"Downloading Pokemon Screensaver Virus cure into your system."

Then, like last time, the download was finished before I could do anything. I looked apprehensively at my computer. The screen began to glow with a bright light.

"Wait a minute!" I shouted. The computer blinked its screen two times, then showed a message:

"10 Minute Delay Activated."

"Chris, what's happening?" Ash asked.

"Okay, guys, I need you to listen closely, because I only have five minutes." Then I proceeded to tell them the truth about me and how I had been transported here by my computer and I told them everything else that had happened before I met them.

"Wow. Is that really true?" Misty asked.

"Yup."

"I never would have guessed."

My computer started to make a ticking noise. It displayed a message:

"2 Minute Warning."

I nodded and bent down to talk to Kadabra. I also released Drowzee. "Guys, I have to go now. I'm not going to be able to be your master anymore. I think you'd be happiest if I gave you to Duplica. Would that be all right?"

They answered in the affirmative.

"Good. I'll miss you both." I said, hugging both of them. Then I put them both in their pokeballs and turned to the others. "Would you guys please give these to Duplica and tell her everything? Tell her... I'll always remember her."

"We will, Chris." Brock said.

My computer made a noise like an alarm. It was time. The screen turned white and started shining brighter and brighter. I felt a pulling sensation, dragging me closer to the computer. I was sucked in. Then the laptop closed itself and simply... disappeared to the eyes of Ash and the others.

"Aaah! Ow!" My computer had rudely dropped me on the floor. I stood up and looked around. It was my room. I looked at the clock on the wall. Only an hour had passed since I left. I turned back to my computer.

It was displaying a message. It said: 

"Bonus Activated! Press Any Key!"

I pressed Enter, and it showed a new message.

"Multidimensional Access Activated. Available: Pokemon. Software Is Upgradeable."

"Huh? Does that mean what I think it means?"

The message closed, and my desktop showed up. But there was a new icon: a picture of a vortex, titled "Gateway Program"

I clicked on it, and it opened up a control pad. Since it was only set for Pokemon right now, that was the only one available. Then it let me either set a location in the Pokemon world or home in onto someone or something. I decided to try and see if I could home in on Ash, so I selected that. The computer then prompted me to press Enter, so I complied. Then the familiar gateway opened up, and I was sucked through.

"Ouch! Crap!" Apparently the landings weren't going to get any better. I looked around. I had landed right next to a campfire, and sitting around it were Ash, Misty, Brock, and Suzie!

"Chris!"

"Uh, hi, guys!" I explained everything to them, and told them to expect me to quite literally drop in every so often. Then I set my computer to take me home, and it did so. As I landed hard on my butt _again_, I had a thought. What if I could write down this entire experience? I was sure to have many more adventures with my computer, so perhaps I could write about those, too! Ideas started flooding in as I got to my feet.

I opened up my word processing program and thought for a second. I had to have a pen name for privacy. I decided on PokeDigiManiac. After all, I loved Digimon, too, and the gateway was upgradeable. Maybe I could have adventures in the digital world, too!

So I sat down and began writing this very story....

Fin 


End file.
